California Pintos basketball was on a three-game losing streak Saturday afternoon heading into the Moberly Shootout. They looked to get back in the win column in their shootout game against the Winfield High School Warriors, a team that California had not played since the Class 2 State Tournament in 1974, where California won 45-44. The Pintos let a nine-point lead slip away in the second quarter, but finished the game with a flourish in the fourth quarter to earn a much needed 55-44 win over the Warriors.
On the game's opening possession, California made a statement play on defense. Sophomore guards Hayden Kilmer and Brooks Volkart trapped Winfield guard Brady Creech in the back-court. Creech turned the ball over off his foot and the ball rolled right into the hands of junior guard Gavin Porter, who scored the game's first points after Creech tried to draw an offensive foul and didn't get it. The steal and basket by Porter set the tone for the opening minutes and California ran out to a 9-0 start. The Pintos had found their shooting touch, which had been missing the last three games, and Winfield had to use two timeouts in the first quarter. Kilmer also got into the act with three mid-range baskets in a span of five minutes. The Pintos led 21-14 at the end of one quarter.
The score was 25-16 California with more than 5 minutes left in the first half. The Pintos remained in control of the game, but things were about to take a dramatic turn. Winfield turned up their defensive pressure and began to collapse on California's guards and center. While on offense, the Warriors would hit five straight shots and come back to take the lead. California Head Coach Brad Conway chose not to call a timeout, hoping his team could play themselves out of it, but they couldn't. Winfield scored the last 15 points of the first half. What was once a nine-point lead was now a six-point deficit at halftime.
At the start of the second half, the Pintos were back into the spot they had been in for the last three games: struggling for points and having to fight from behind. Creech was the driving force for Winfield on both sides of the ball and California had difficulties containing him on defense. However, California got a big sequence when they got three offensive rebounds and forced the Warriors into committing three fouls on one possession. The Warriors now had six fouls in the first two-and-a-half minutes of the second half. With Winfield in foul trouble, California decided to go inside on senior center Hunter Berendzen and have him go to work down low. Berendzen accepted the challenge by scoring eight points and pulling down three rebounds in the quarter.
The game went into the fourth quarter with the score tied at 41. Berendzen picked up where he left off in the third with two layups in the first 40 seconds. On the other side, Winfield couldn't make a shot and missed their first nine shots of the fourth quarter. With the Warriors' offense going ice cold, California moved in for the kill. Berendzen and Kilmer would combine for 12 of California's 14 points in the fourth quarter and the Pintos' defense took care of the rest.
The Pintos shot 6 of 11 from the field in the fourth quarter while the Warriors only shot 1 for 12 in the fourth quarter. California walked away with a 55-44 victory.
Hunter Berendzen was the high man for California with 16 points on 7 of 8 from the field with eight rebounds. Kilmer, who started for the injured Ayden Bryant, had a solid game with 12 points, three assists and a steal. After scoring just 11 points in his last four games, Gavin Porter broke out of his slump with nine points, three rebounds, three assists and a block. As a team, California shot 57 percent from the field, had 32 rebounds and 16 assists.
Coach Conway was pleased with the victory on Saturday afternoon. He said California showed a lot of guts and focus when they lost their big lead in the second quarter only to come back and dominate the fourth quarter.
"I thought we did a lot of really good things in the first quarter and a half. In the last four to five minutes of the second quarter, the wheels fell off a little bit. Defensively, it seemed like we were about two steps slow and gave up too many offensive rebounds, which caused us to go out of sync a little bit," Conway said. "We were down six at the half, but I thought we did a good job getting refocused and had a really good third quarter. They started settling for jumpers, fortunately they missed, and we were getting the rebounds off of those misses. So it was a good confidence builder for us to win today. We needed to win and we did."
Conway credited the Pintos comeback and dominate fourth quarter performance to California's ball movement and tough defensive pressure. He said it was nice to see Hunter Berendzen have a big game after having been quiet the last three games. The Pintos had been using their last few practices before Saturday to work on their shooting and getting everyone more involved in the offense and it paid dividends in the win over Winfield.
"We started running our sets better in the second half. I thought at times in the second half, we were going to fast on offense and our decision making wasn't what it needed to be. When we started to calm down, we did a nice job of getting into our sets and getting the shots that we wanted," Conway said. "We've made a conservative effort over the last two or three practices to get our important players more involved like we did with Hunter today. It seemed like the last few games, our post players have been non-existent in our offense. We did a good job of getting the ball to Hunter and Hunter did a nice job when we got him the ball and he was able to seal the rim for buckets and rebounds."
California (4-4) now gets set to begin the conference portion of their season schedule. It will begin Thursday night when California hosts the Hallsville Indians.
Sophomore guard Hayden Kilmer knocks down a 15-foot jumpshot as part of a 14-3 fourth quarter run for California. Kilmer had 12 points on 5-7 shooting against the Warriors. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Sophomore guard Brooks Volkart drives to the rim for a score against the Winfield Warriors. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior guard Gavin Porter drives past Winfield's Brady Creech. Porter had nine points, three rebounds, three assists, and a block in California 55-44 win on Saturday. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior guard Ayden Bryant soars to the rim for a score against the Winfield Warriors. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Senior Hunter Berendzen knocks down two free throws for California. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Gavin Porter had nine points, three rebounds, and two assists for the Pintos against Winfield. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Sophomore Hayden Kilmer adds the finishing touches for California with two free throws late in the fourth quarter. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Gavin Porter (left) and freshman Chase Trimble prepare to box out the Warriors on a missed free throw.(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Pintos head coach Brad Conway plots his offensive plan for the fourth quarter on Saturday afternoon. California outscored Winfield 14-3 in the fourth quarter at the Moberly Shootout. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)