Stallions get close win over Madera

Wendy Alexander/the Madera Tribune

Madera South’s Lucas Samaniego drives the lane over Madera’s J’Sean Gonzalez to score two points durin the Stallions’ victory last Wednesday.

In a game that was closely contested from beginning to end, the Madera South boys basketball team pulled out a 59-55 win at over the Madera Coyotes in Joe Flores Gym.

“I feel like they wanted it more than us a little bit,” Madera’s J’Sean Gonzales said. “Towards the end, we kind of gave out a little bit more. They just started making plays at the end.”

“We have five seniors on the team. It’s our last rival game, so we had to go all out. It was all energy around us,” Madera South senior Lucas Samangieo said.

As the teams went back-and-forth early in the game, the Coyotes held a two-point lead with a minute left in the first quarter. A pair of free throws from Elias Torres gave Madera a four-point lead.

After the Coyotes forced a turnover, Ben Prim scored from inside the paint, giving the home team an 18-12 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

The Coyotes still held a six-point lead with five minutes left in the second quarter. A floater by Josiah Pickens added to Madera’s lead with three minutes left in the half.

Madera South’s Isaiah Ford followed up with a bucket to make it 22-18. The Coyotes, however, answered with another run to push the gap to eight.

As the Stallions continued to fight back, a 3-pointer from Erik Cervantes brought the visitors within three. Madera South forced a turnover at the end of the half and converted a fastbreak to make the score 26-25 at the break.

The Stallions took a one-point lead early in the third quarter. But the Coyotes put together another run to push their advantage back to six.

Still, the visitors fought back to force another tie. The back-and-forth affair continued until the fourth quarter when the Stallions held a five-point lead.

Madera trailed by a point after earning free throws on two consecutive trips.

With 27 seconds left in the game, the Coyotes converted a layup to cut the gap to two. The Stallions still left the door open after missing free throws on the other end.

Pickens, however, was unable to tie the game after earning free throws with six seconds left. The Stallions then sealed the game with their own free throws.