Boys basketball: Marin Catholic falls in Bambauer third-place game
Kyle Winters’ game-high 29 points wasn’t the only twenty-something figure that stood out for the Marin Catholic High boys basketball team on Thursday night.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, it was the 25 turnovers that loomed large in their 70-56 loss to Folsom during the third-place game of MC’s Bambauer Classic.
“Story of the game is 25 turnovers … that was it,” MC coach Mike Saia said. “Their press gave us trouble. Hasn’t really happened all year. For whatever reason tonight it did and maybe because of the up-and-down nature of last night’s game (against King of Riverside), we just didn’t have the legs.”
Despite committing 14 first-half turnovers, MC (8-5) was able to erase a 9-2 deficit to start the game and even enjoyed a 27-23 advantage with 90 seconds left before intermission when Caden Maas buried his lone 3-pointer on the night. Maas, who led MC on the glass with six rebounds, followed up with a layup a minute later, but the Bulldogs (11-4) tied it at 29-29 just before the buzzer.
Brycen Shackelford, who was an all-tourney team selection, came alive offensively for Folsom in the second half. He scored nine of his team-high 17 points in the third quarter when the Bulldogs took control.
Shackelford hit a 3-pointer and then converted a three-point play midway through the third quarter to give Folsom its first double-digit lead at 43-33. The Bulldogs had four players score in double figures on the night.
“Our third quarters, at least the 13 games we’ve had, we are slow coming out of the third quarter,” Saia said. “It happened Tuesday night, last night and it happened today.”
He jokingly had a solution for their third-quarter woes.
“Maybe it’s my halftime speeches. Maybe I have to change them.”
Winters (three assists) had eight of his points in the third quarter, including sinking a jumper from the top of the key to beat the buzzer to trim Folsom’s advantage to eight.
#marinhoops Kyle Winters beats buzzer for MC. pic.twitter.com/DP7V61cLQI
— Derek Arild (@MrArild) December 31, 2021
“We came out well and matched their intensity and that third quarter we kind of lost it,” said Winters, who was playing with a black eye from an elbow he took during the previous night’s game. “They hit some shots and we were playing from behind. I thought we stayed with it and fought all the way through.
“They ran their press well and trapped our ballhandlers well.”
Winters was also selected to the all-tournament team.
#marinhoops Kyle Winters for the easy deuce. pic.twitter.com/qHBpwyzlZa
— Derek Arild (@MrArild) December 31, 2021
Maas, who was the only other MC player to score in double digits, had eight of his 13 points in the final period to keep the Wildcats within striking distance. Dylan Ryssemus finished with three points, five rebounds and three assists off MC’s bench.
The Bulldogs’ 24-point fourth-quarter outpouring was too much for MC to come back from.
“In the first half, we had so many unexplained turnovers,” Folsom coach Mike Wall said. “We had two kick off our own feet. We had missed layups and three travels. We were doing a lot of good things we just couldn’t get a lot of points out of it because we would turn it over or miss the easy basket. We started cashing in in the third quarter on our good work.”
MC gets back to work in league with a road game at San Rafael on Tuesday night.