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Fourth quarter overwhelms varsity Warriors
Seniors honored in last boys’ basketball home game
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Photo by Paige Lampson
Brent Harrison dribbles around an Oak Ridge opponent during the Warriors’ homecoming game Friday night.
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By Kerensa Uyeta-Buckley
Herald Sports
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Although the outcome wasn’t quite what they intended, the varsity Warriors still celebrated a festive, enthusiastic homecoming Friday night against Oak Ridge.
After three quarters of close basketball in which the Warriors kept their cool against Oak Ridge, the Trojans broke out for 25 fourth quarter points and defeated the Warriors, 66-48.
A large Galt crowd of students, parents, and fans filled the home side of the bleachers to watch Galt take on Sierra Valley Conference rival Oak Ridge, which had had just one loss prior to playing Galt.
After playing in perhaps its best game all season three nights earlier against Cordova, the Warriors stayed on Oak Ridge’s heels in an effort to earn its first SVC win.
The Warriors came as close as one point in the third quarter, after going on an eight-point scoring run.
Down 38-35, Jonathan Schantz scored to bring Galt within 38-37 with about two minutes left in the quarter.
Although Galt missed its next shot, it trailed 41-38 at the end of the quarter, leaving the Warriors in prime condition for a win.
In the fourth quarter, however, Oak Ridge came out charging.
Chad Nunes and Colin Johnson combined to score five points for Oak Ridge to open up the quarter.
A Brent Harrison basket brought Galt within 46-40 with 5:51 left, but Oak Ridge soon pulled away into double digits.
Chris Browning and Darin Tuttle scored back-to-back baskets to give the Trojans a 10-point lead.
Brett Thompson then completed a three-point play to give the Trojans a 53-40 lead.
The Warriors would score just two more baskets in the rest of the game, with their other three points coming from free throws.
The ending wasn’t indicative of the whole game, as the Warriors outscored Oak Ridge 18-14 in the second quarter and took an early 9-8 lead before trailing 16-9 at the end of the first quarter.
“We didn’t play to the level we need to play,” Galt head coach Steve Box said afterwards, adding that Galt has the potential to come out on top.
“I think we can beat any team in this league,” said Box. “They really just took off in the fourth quarter. The seniors played their hearts out,” Box said first of Oak Ridge, then his senior players.
Chris Pillsbury, Micah Piggee, Nick Gamalski, Schantz, Sam Mitchell, Cole Rasmussen, and Harrison were honored before the game during Senior Night festivities.
Mitchell was still sitting on the bench Friday night after suffering a serious sprain earlier in the season.
Box said that it looks as if Mitchell will be out for another week, although an exact date is not certain.
The game was Galt’s last boys basketball home game of the season due to an early schedule change that switched its original final game at home from Feb. 6 to Friday.
Austin Phillips led the Warriors with 10 points, Harrison had eight points, and Joe Setum had seven points.
Jan. 22
Brent Harrison’s three-point field goal with approximately two minutes left in Galt’s game against Cordova gave the Warriors their first lead since the first quarter.
While Cordova would later score six points and win 63-60, the Galt Warriors had proven that they can keep up with the best of them.
The brief lead in the fourth quarter and the rallying that came before it happened after the Warriors had trailed the Lancers – which came in the game with a 3-1 record nearly the entire game.
The Warriors entered the fourth quarter trailing 52-43 and made their comeback with the help of a 10-point run.
A Sterling Shells basket with 2:58 left tied the score at 55-55 for Galt and completed the scoring run.
Cordova’s Ethan Stone then made two free throws to put the Lancers back on top.
Jonathan Schantz scored to tie the game again at 57-57, and Harrison hit the three-point basket to give the Warriors the 60-57 lead.
Cordova creeped up on Galt’s lead with six points capped by a James Bonner basket that gave them the 63-60 advantage.
Galt’s hopes were kept alive after Cordova traveled with 26 seconds on the clock, and the Lancers’ senior guard Kiki Wood missed a free throw to keep the deficit at three points.
After the missed free throw, senior Cole Rasmussen rebounded the ball to give Galt the last possession and a chance to send the game into overtime.
After a timeout stopped the clock, the Lancers decided to take advantage of their foul situation and keep stopping the clock.
The Lancers, who had had three fouls, fouled Galt three times during the final possession, each time breaking the Warriors’ momentum and shaving seconds off the clock.
One last Galt shot attempt fell short, and Cordova walked off with the win.
The Warriors appeared determined to keep themselves in the game from an early standpoint.
Cordova started pulling away in the second quarter and at one point, led by as many as 16 points when Wood scored to give the Lancers a 39-23 lead.
The Warriors closed the quarter with seven straight points, however, after Schantz hit two free throws, Rasmussen scored, and Harrison hit a three-point shot for a 39-30 deficit.
Galt again fell behind in double digits in the third quarter, but scored six straight points near the end to trail again by nine points, 52-43.
Harrison ended up with six three-point field goals and 22 points, and Rasmussen scored 15 points to lead the Warriors.
“They played some hard basketball, and unfortunately, it was taken away from us,” Box said, referring to the game.
“If we could have gotten some of those calls, I think it would have been a different game,” Box said. “I hate to put it on the referees, but that is such an advantage, that foul discrepancy at the end.”
“We only have 12, 13 seconds and we have to have five fouls to give before we run into the penalty,” Box said. “You can’t do anything against it.”
“To play great basketball like that and come out on the wrong end is disheartening,” Box said, reflecting on the performance his players gave.
“I think we’ll learn from it—the one thing we take out of this game is that we can play with anybody in this league,” Box said, noting the close losses Galt has seen against previous opponents in the Sierra Valley Conference.
In three of Galt’s first five games, Galt’s loss margin was 5.3 points.
In reference to Cordova’s big second quarter lead, Box credited his players for their resilience.
“The kids could have very easily thrown in the towel. To their credit, they came out really hard and aggressive and took away that lead,” Box said.
Heat 14u wins second place at AAU Basketball Tournament
Congratulations to the Galt Heat 14U Competitive AAU Basketball Team for winning second place at the Sac Area Sports AAU Basketball Tournament on Jan. 26 and 27 in Sacramento. After defeating the Jr. Warriors from Rocklin (44-16) and YBA from Granite Bay (42-37 in OT), they lost to Showtime Hoops in the championship game on Sunday. The Galt Heat’s record for the 2007-08 season is 9-1.
Union Mine, Lady Warriors match up rescheduled for tonight
A game between Union Mine and Galt’s girls’ basketball programs that was scheduled for Monday, was rescheduled for tonight.
Galt had prepared to play the Lady Diamondbacks Monday, but a miscommunication left Union Mine a no-show.
The two schools were originally scheduled to play Tuesday, but had changed the schedule earlier in the season due to a double-booking with a Galt wrestling match inside Warrior Gym.
The Lady Warriors and Union Mine will instead face off on the court tonight, including freshmen, junior varsity, and varsity teams, starting at 4:30 p.m.
The varsity Lady Warriors lost to Oak Ridge last Friday, 53-26 in the teams’ second meeting.
Oak Ridge limited Galt to single digits in the first three quarters, and outscored the Lady Warriors in every quarter.
Galt defeated Cordova 61-27 last Wednesday in the teams’ first meeting this season.
Galt outscored the Lady Lancers in each quarter, and limited them to three points in the first quarter and five points in the second quarter.
Sam Messersmith led all scorers with 19 points, and had eight rebounds, two assists, and one block.
Kristen Lee scored 11 points, had four rebounds, two assists, and two steals, and Maci Hansen had seven points, two assists, and one steal.
The Lady Warriors are now 2-4 in the SVC, with four games left this season.
GHS varsity boys 27th in power ratings
The Galt Warriors varsity boys were ranked 27th in the first men’s basketball power ratings that were released Jan. 22.
The rating was based on the Warriors’ 0-4 record in the Sierra Valley Conference and the Warriors’ 7-10 overall record, which was accrued through their Jan. 17 game against Ponderosa.
The ratings were released on the California Interscholastic Federation Sac-Joaquin Section Web site.
The top 16 teams go on play in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs.
New ratings will be released this week based on games through Jan. 26.
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