Manteca senior Marcus Montano thinks about taking a shot before dishing it off Wednesday night during the first round of the CIF NorCal Division III boys basketball tournament on the road against Foot
PALO CEDRO — Manteca High and senior guard Marcus Montano came to play on Wednesday night and proved they belonged in the CIF NorCal Division III boys basketball tournament. The Buffaloes (22-9) jumped out to a seven-point, first-quarter advantage and stretched their lead to 17 right before the half. Foothill of the Northern Section responded with scrappiness and by crashing the offensive glass while limiting Manteca to just 23 points over the last two quarters on its way to a 68-60 victory. Montano tallied 17 first-half points, and his fifth trey made it 37-20 Manteca with 2:09 left in the second quarter. “I’m proud of my boys no matter what,” said Montano, who finished with 20 points and hit his only 3-point attempt of the second half late in the fourth quarter. “We knew NorCals were going to be big. It’s a whole different atmosphere out here, so we knew we had to bring it.” Foothill (22-8) knew it had to do the same after Manteca came out looking so sound. The Falcons opened the third quarter with a surge from its 6-foot-5 senior Beau Hamilton (22 points, 7 rebounds) and senior guard Jace Fry (23 points). Hamilton and Fry tallied 19 of Foothill’s 23 third-quarter points and Hamilton had two dunks that that brought the crowd to life. Foothill finished with 15 offensive rebounds in the second half, 10 of which were in the fourth quarter. “Their offensive rebounding killed us,” Manteca coach Brett Lewis said. “That was definitely a turning point. We had guys standing right next to other guys and they get a board and put-back. It was a frustrating effort, but we’re young and hopefully we’ll learn from this.” Tydus Verhoeven gave Manteca a 52-49 lead to close the third quarter. The 6-7 sophomore finished with six points, four rebounds and four assists. He also went 0 for 4 from the free-throw line, where Manteca was 8 for 17 in the second half and 12 for 22 overall. Foothill opened the fourth quarter on a 14-1 run and took its first lead of the game at 54-52. Hamilton and Fry scored 12 of those 14 on that run, and Hamilton — with his relentlessness and athleticism — reeled off seven straight points to put Manteca in a 10-point hole (63-53) with 3:48 remaining. Montano brought Manteca back to within five at 63-58 with his sixth 3-ball with 2:30 left in the contest. Manteca junior Anand Hundal hit a pair of clutch free free throws to pull the Buffaloes within three, but then Fry scored and then Hamilton dunked for a third time with 42 seconds left in regulation to stretch Foothill’s lead back out to seven, 67-60. The 6-8 junior Hundal led the Buffaloes with 22 points and had seven boards to go with two blocks, respectively. All six of Manteca’s first-quarter field goals were assisted. Three were from Verhoeven and two from Montano. Montano’s trey with 7:03 left in the second quarter gave Manteca a 21-10 lead. “We knew Manteca was tough,” Foothill head coach Bill Elliott said. “They played a great first half and they took us out of our game. We were in trouble quite honestly. “Their size gave us some trouble, and (Montano) was really hitting his 3s.” Tyler Graves-Kelso and Adrian Contreras chipped in with four apiece for the Buffaloes. Making a NorCal tournament appearance was a big deal for Manteca, which hasn’t seen its boys basketball team make it to this level in quite some time. “I was told 1987 was the last time (Manteca) has been to NorCals, but I’m not sure,” Lewis concluded. “We’re young and were pretty much going to return our whole team next year. So hopefully these guys want to take this and run with it next year and get further.”