Toros win home opener over Minarets Mustangs

Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune

Matilda Torres’ Joseph Bass drives to the bucket for two of his eight points. He and two other Toros scored eight points in a 46-31 victory in the home opener Thursday evening.

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With its first home game of the season, the Matilda Torres Toros boys basketball team didn’t allow the home fans to go home unhappy with a 46-31 victory over Minarets.

The Toros used an 11-0 run to jump out to the big lead and record the victory.

“Minarets plays hard every time,” head coach Charles Rigby said. “We’re lucky we have the guys we have. They are excited about the season. It’s a home opener so you want to put on a show for the crowd.”

Nine different Toros scored with no one scoring in double-figures. Ali Al-Khafaji, Arturo Corona and Joseph Bass each scored eight points with Amani Sua adding seven points. Bass brought down 13 rebounds with seven on the offensive glass. Sua had 11 rebounds with six offensive boards and five steals.

“We’re taking it one game at a time,” Rigby said. “It’s only our second game. Nine of them are coming from football. We’ve only been practicing together for about a week. This was good for us. We get the weekend to get ready for Madera High.”

The Toros, who played Madera on Monday, controlled the glass, especially on the offensive end. They took advantage of Minarets’ lack of accuracy around the basket to pull down 53 rebounds with 22 coming on the offensive glass.

“We have a lot of size down low. We have length and adjust shots from our opponents,” Rigby said.

Jose Soriano opened the scoring for the Toros with a 3-pointer. Al-Khafaji hit a jumper and Corona picked up a steal and scored with a layup for an early 7-0 lead.

After Minarets scored the next four points, Corona found Sua for a layup and Watson found Soriano for another layup after a Sua steal.

Bass closed the first quarter scoring with a layup for the 15-8 lead. Bass opened the second quarter with another layup.

After Minarets made a layup, Soriano was hit with two technical fouls four seconds apart and was ejected from the game. The other Toros picked up the slack and the offense didn’t let up.

Minarets made two of four technical foul free throws, but Bass made a layup and put back a miss to get the lead to eight.

Al-Khfaji hit a 3-pointer for a 10-point lead. Later, Al-Khfaji hit another 3-pointer, but Minarets made a layup to cut Torres’ lead to 28-218 at the half.

Both teams combined for 10 points in the third quarter. The Toros got a layup from Corona and a floater from Watson while the Mustangs cut the lead to 32-24 heading to the fourth.

After Minarets scored the first points of the quarter, Torres scored the next 11. Sua started the run with an offensive putback. After a Minarets turnover, Enzo Cosentino made a layup off a hook shot. A Sua steal lead to a Cosentino 3-pointer for a 39-26 lead.

Another Sua steal led to a Corona layup. Two mintues later, Ethan Viana-Williams came down with a rebound and fed Moses Soto for a layup and a 43-26 lead to, basically, but the game away.

Minarets hit a jumper and a free throw with 38 seconds left in the game. Demetrio Nila put the final touches on the game with a 3-pointer.