Led by the consistent play of guard Anekyn Montaluo and the rebounding of center Siaosu Vai, the Pacheco Panthers of Los Banos used a balanced offensive attack to defeat the Dos Palos Broncos, 52-42, last Monday in non-league varsity basketball action.
The Panthers, under head coach Tyrell Jenkins, will have two home games coming up, starting with Delhi tomorrow (Thursday) evening. This coming Wednesday, Pacheco will host Orestimba-Newman.
The Broncos took a slim lead over the Panthers in the opening quarter, due mainly to full court pressure from their small but quick frontcourt.
Dos Palos senior guard Jacquez Jones came up with a pair of nice steals that he converted to easy layups to put his team ahead.
With Dos Palos holding a slim 15-14 lead after the first quarter, Montaluo and senior forward Nikolas Lomeli both drained three-point shots and freshman Noah Lomeli hit two short jump shots to give Pacheco a 26-25 lead at halftime.
Jenkins went deep into his bench in the third quarter that put relentless on the Broncos. The score was tied 33-33 with 3:47 left in the quarter when Pacheco balanced their offensive attack. Montaluo scored seven points, including a three-point shot. Five of his teammates also scored, including four points by Vai, who grabbed two offensive rebounds for easy putback baskets.
The attack forced the Broncos into mistakes, including two missed layups as the Panthers took a 44-34 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Dos Palos suffered a further loss when Jones, their leader fouled out of the game early in the final quarter.
Montaluo led all scorers with 18 points, including a trio of three-point shots. The rest of the Panther scoring was very balanced, as Noah Lomeli finished with seven points, and brother Nikolas and Vai each had six points.
Jones finished with 17 points before fouling out, with most of his points coming off steals and layups. Teammate Anthony Lish added 11 points.
If the Broncos are going to have success this season, improving their three-point shooting will be a must. They finished the contest by making only one of 14 shots from downtown.
And the improvement better come quickly, as they will head to the Chowchilla Invitational Tournament starting tomorrow (Thursday). Their opening game will be at 8 pm against the host Tribe and play will continue Friday and Saturday.
This Tuesday evening, they will continue preseason play when they host Minarets-North Fork.
