ARBUCKLE, CA (MPG) – For the 57th time, Pierce hosted its varsity boys invitational tournament, which this year featured county rivals Colusa and Williams in addition to teams from Dixon, Live Oak, Oroville, Pioneer (Woodland) and Sutter.
When it was all said and done, Dixon claimed the championship with a victory over Pioneer, while the Bears finished in fourth place, Colusa was seventh and Williams was eighth at the event that ran from Dec. 4-6.
With a blowout 69-37 win over Williams in the first round, Pierce made its way into the winners bracket, but lost a close one to Dixon 48-52, and then fell 46-68 to Oroville.
Against the Yellowjackets in the opener, All-Tournament selection Gavin Guynn finished with 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists to lead the Bears.
Devin Garcia tossed in 14 points with JR Figueroa contributing 13 points and seven steals.
Following up against Dixon, the Bears put forth one of their best performances of the early season, but despite leading by a point at intermission, saw the Rams pull away in the second half.
Guynn again had another big game with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while Garcia pitched in with nine points and four assists.
In the final contest, Pierce struggled with turnovers and as a result had difficulty slowing down the Tigers despite a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double from Guynn.
Garcia added nine points and Tony Saavedra tallied eight, while Figueroa and Thomas Sweet pulled down six boards apiece.
Despite the two consecutive setbacks, Pierce Coach Jonah McInnis thought his team’s play in the tournament was indicative of the potential the Bears have this season, as he explained after the final game.
“Things didn’t go our way tonight, but I like the fact that our leaders stepped up and took responsibility,” said the second year head coach. “We know we have to do some things differently, but the way we played against Dixon is the team I know we can be. Honestly, I think that game took a lot out of us and affected the way we played tonight.”
Meanwhile, Colusa, who after dropping its first two games to Pioneer and Sutter by scores of 53-62 and 50-65 respectively, bounced back to down Williams 63-55.
In the opener, Jace MacKaben’s 22 points and eight rebounds paced the RedHawks, while Cade Smith added 12 points and Julian Mendiola chipped in with nine points and six assists.
Against Sutter, Smith led the way with 16 points and eight rebounds, as MacKaben had 14 points, seven boards and four assists.
Rounding out play in Arbuckle, Colusa defeated the Yellowjackets as All-Tournament selection Lucas Price scored a career-high 20 points.
Smith recorded a 13-point, 16 rebound double-double, while MacKaben finished with 11 points and nine boards.
It was a rough go of it for a young Williams team who went winless and was without the services of Diego Ambriz, after the junior guard after went down with an injury.
Facing Pierce to start tournament play, Miguel Murillo netted a team-high 12 points with Emmanuel Juarez tossing in nine more.
In a low scoring affair against Live Oak, in which the Yellowjackets fell 33-39, Juarez finished with another nine-point effort.
Then, despite suffering the loss to Colusa in the finale, the ‘Jackets seemed to find the range for the first time this season and staged a strong third quarter rally to make things interesting against the RedHawks.
Murillo poured in a season-high 21 points, while Juarez and Seth Davalos had 11 points each.
All three local teams were back in action this week with Pierce (2-3) hosting Wheatland on Dec. 10 before heading to the Central Valley Tournament in Shasta Lake, which runs from Dec. 12-14, Colusa (2-3) entertained Gridley on Tuesday then headed to the Live Oak Tournament which began on Thursday, while Williams (0-4) played a rematch with the Lions in Live Oak on Monday ahead of the Irene Wells Tournament in Maxwell.