As the 2024-25 high school basketball season gets underway, it is pretty plain that the Dos Palos Bronco boys varsity squad will be relying on quickness and pressure to wear down opponents.
The Broncos opened their season last Friday with a resounding 58-38 preseason victory over the Yosemite Badgers.
After this week’s Thanksgiving break, Coach Jerry Warren and his squad will have a full plate of leftovers next week. This Monday, they will host archrival Los Banos at Bronco Gym. The next day, they will travel to the south valley to take on the Farmersville Aztecs before their final game of the week on December 5 at Chowchilla.
With a considerable height disadvantage against Yosemite, Dos Palos utilized full court pressure to rattle the Badgers.
And it worked.
Yosemite committed an ungodly 13 turnovers in the first quarter alone as Dos Palos was able to pick off slow passes to take an 18-8 first quarter lead.
The catalysts for the early onslaught were senior shooting guard Jacquez Jones and point guard Andrew Lish.
Jones scored eight points in the opening quarter, mostly on layups, with two coming from fine passes from guard Jaime Lopez.
And while the Badgers were able to cut down on their turnovers in the second quarter, Dos Palos continued to play clean ball, converting on easy shots underneath the basket. Yosemite shooting guard Lucas McGoldrick, who scored seven of this team’s eight points in the first quarter, went cold in the second quarter as the Broncos added to their lead.
Dos Palos took a 29-18 halftime lead and basically put the game away with a hot third quarter. Robey Peacock and Andrew San Roman hit back-to-back three-point shots and Lish scored a pair of shots on short floaters in the key.
Jones finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds and Lish added 16 points and 10 rebounds.
If the Broncos are to have a successful season, they will have to improve on their shooting at the free throw line and beyond the arc. Dos Palos made only six of 29 three-point shots and four of 12 free throws.
