Pintos finish third at home Tournament behind Kruger, Myers

Senior guard Calen Kruger drives baseline past the Capital City defender and gets to the hole for two points. Kruger had 18 points, four assists, and three rebounds against the Capital City Cavaliers.
Senior guard Calen Kruger drives baseline past the Capital City defender and gets to the hole for two points. Kruger had 18 points, four assists, and three rebounds against the Capital City Cavaliers.

The California Pintos played the role of host last week at the annual California basketball tournament. The Pintos came in as the No. 3 seed and looked to keep the first-place trophy in California.

The Pintos hit a roadblock when they lost their first game of the tournament in the semifinals to the Capital City Cavaliers 54-47. They came back from the loss by defeating the Southern Boone Eagles 60-36 to take third place in the tournament behind the performances of Calen Kruger and Trevor Myers.

Before the tournament began, the Pintos got back a key piece of their roster when sophomore guard Karson McKinney returned to the team after being sick for the previous two weeks. Unfortunately for the Pintos, McKinney's return was followed by the absence of junior forward Hunter Berendzen, who had come down with a sickness himself. Berendzen would be unable to play in the tournament, and the Pintos would have to find a way to win without their starting center.

In the semifinal game against Capital City, the Pintos charged out of the starting gate by going on a 10-1 run to start the game. But the Cavaliers were not a team to back down from a challenge. Capital City came back to tie the game 23 at halftime. Then, in the second half, the Pintos found themselves plagued by missed shots. And as California went cold, Capital City became hot. The Cavs surprised the Pintos and their fans by putting on a scoring run that California had no answers for. Despite the efforts of senior forward Myers and senior guard Kruger, California was unable to come back and Capital City upset California 54-47, snapping the Pintos eight-game winning streak. Myers and Kruger each scored 18 points. Only four Pintos scored points against the Cavaliers, and the Pintos only shot 33 percent from the field and made one three-pointer. California did pull down 29 rebounds and stole the ball 14 times.

The Pintos would have to play again in barely 24 hours. Due to the snowstorm that Moniteau County was supposed to get early Saturday morning, the tournament committee changed the date of California's third-place game against Southern Boone from Saturday night to Friday night. Pintos head coach Brad Conway knew the game against Southern Boone would be a test for his team because of the fatigue that comes with playing games on back-to-back days.

The Pintos quickly found themselves down 7-4 to the Eagles in the first three minutes. But the Pintos quickly recovered by once again using Kruger and Myers to end the quarter on a 10-0 run, capped off by a fast break from junior forward Jaden Traschel, that came off a steal from Trevor Myers. Southern Boone managed to cut the Pintos lead to four, 27-23, as the game went into halftime.

In the second half, California looked to distance itself from Southern Boone. Both teams fought each other to a standstill in the first four minutes, with the Pintos still holding on to a four-point lead until California gained a little bit of momentum by hitting six straight free throws to stretch their lead to 10. And as the Pintos built some breathing room at the foul line, they had found just enough momentum to turn the game in their favor.

From that point on, California's defense made sure nothing came easy for the Southern Boone Eagles. The Pintos gave up 13 points in the second half and held Southern Boone junior guard Aiden Bukowsky, one of the Eagles' leading scorers, scoreless. Bukowsky had 17 points against California in the Pintos win over Southern Boone on Dec. 17.

And anything the defense couldn't take care of, Myers and Kruger took over from there. The Pintos defeated the Eagles 60-36 and took third place in the California tournament. Myers and Kruger combined for 55 of California's 60 points against Southern Boone. Myers had 29 points and Kruger had 26 points.

California as a team shot 59 percent from the floor, 44 percent from the three-point line, and 77 percent from the foul line, while holding Southern Boone to only 28 percent shooting.

Coach Conway admitted his team having to play two games in two days drained them physically. But he gave props to his team for their toughness and special props to Kruger and Myers for performing at that high of a level on very short rest.

"They're competitors," he said. "I thought they really stepped up. They feed off of each other, and I could tell they really wanted to get this win. It's the last time they're going to be playing in this tournament, and I thought they did a really, really nice job tonight. I thought they let the game come to them, and they didn't try to force a lot of things.

"Last night was not a good shooting night for us," he said. "After the game last night, I told them that we have to put this one behind us and tomorrow's a new day. We've just got to come out, execute and put the ball in the hole, and I thought we did that tonight."

After the California tournament, the Pintos record now sits at 13-2. They will have two conference games at home this week. California will play School of the Osage on Tuesday and Versailles on Friday. After that, the Pintos will play in another tournament at Hermann against Wright City at 6 p.m. Jan. 24.

photo Senior forward Trevor Myers shoots two free-throws in the first quarter against Capital City. Myers had 18 points and 10 rebounds against the Cavaliers on Thursday night.
photo Senior forward Trevor Myers boxes out his defender while going for a rebound against the Capital City Cavaliers. Myers had 18 points and 10 rebounds against the Cavaliers on Thursday night.
photo Senior guard Calen Kruger drives to the rim past Southern Boone guard Aiden Burkowsky. Kruger scored 26 points against the Eagles on Friday night.
photo Senior guard Calen Kruger gets a steal and soars to the rim for a breakaway layup in the second quarter against the Southern Boone Eagles. Kruger scored 26 points on Friday night.
photo Senior forward Trevor Myers jumps high in the air to open the second half with a layup. Myers had a game-high 29 points and eight rebounds against Southern Boone on Friday.
photo Sophomore guard Ayden Bryant gets a rebound and pushes the ball up the floor.
photo Senior forward Trevor Myers stares down Southern Boone guard Carter Salter on defense.
photo Senior guard Calen Kruger shoots and makes a pair of free throws against Southern Boone. Kruger scored 26 points against the Eagles on Friday night.