Last weekend the Los Banos Tiger basketball program hosted the annual “Tiger Classic” tournament for freshman and junior varsity basketball teams.
Six schools participated in the round-robin tournament, with Atwater, Dos Palos, East Union, Los Banos, Pacheco and Riverbank entering the three-day event.
In junior varsity action, Riverbank survived a valiant comeback effort by Los Banos in the championship game to claim the tournament title, by the score of 47-45.
The Atwater Falcons routed the Los Banos freshman team by the score of 60-25 to win the frosh tournament championship.
The Tiger freshman managed a 46-12 victory over the Pacheco Panthers for their only win, and they dropped games to the East Union Lancers and the Atwater Falcons.
Grayson Houtekamer (31 points, 20 rebounds) was selected to the All-tournament team, as he led the freshman Tigers in all three games.
Los Banos High JV player, Jaxon Mancebo, center, is fouled by Pacheco High player, Vincente Tomasello, right, while fellow Pacheco player, Anthony Calderon looks on.
Jax Jorge (28 points, 11 rebounds), Adrian DeLaCruz (12 points, 21 rebounds), Giovanni Rivera-Oates (16 points, 16 rebounds) and Braden Silva (6 points, 17 rebounds) all completed fine tournament efforts.
In JV action, the Tigers won their first two games, defeating Dos Palos 43-40 in overtime, and then they closed out Pacheco by the score of 69-56.
Then they met Riverbank in the championship game and trailed the Bruins 41-33 going into the fourth quarter of play.
Los Banos outscored Riverbank 12-6 in the final period to close to within two points at 47-45, but too many ill-advised long-range shots spelled doom for the locals.
Los Banos shot 29 percent from the floor (42 of 121), and 51 percent (24 of 47) from the free throw line, and an abysmal 16 percent (14 of 87) from three-point land for the three games. It was the worst in the championship game with Riverbank, with the Tigers hitting just 09 percent (2 of 27) from beyond the arc.
All-tournament selection Zaevin Cancino (29 points, 26 rebounds) led the Tigers in the three games, followed by Jacob Castro (44 points, 13 rebounds), Leo Nichols (20 points, 18 rebounds), Maggio Carter (10 points, 29 rebounds), Jax Jorge (10 points, nine rebounds) and Raymond Garcia (12 points, 11 rebounds), completed the scoring for Los Banos.
