Just one week after completing their football season, the Bears made their debut on the hardwood this season at their own Pierce Invitational, where they finished third after coming from behind to beat Orland 36-31 last Friday night.
It was the 54th rendition of the tournament that ran from Dec. 1-3, and featured teams from Colusa, Dixon, Live Oak, Middletown, Orland, Oroville and Pioneer (Woodland).
Pierce opened with an easy 49-25 win over Live Oak, but fell victim to a hot-shooting Dixon squad in the second round coming up short 56-46, to set up the game for third place against Orland.
With both teams playing themselves into shape, the match up against the Trojans was a rugged, low scoring affair that saw a combined 35 fouls committed, but the Bears never quit and despite being outrebounded, rallied in the fourth quarter to overtake Orland.
Leading the comeback was senior Daniel Salud, who hit a big three to give Pierce its first lead of the game with just under six minutes remaining, and tallied 10 of his team-high 17 points in the final period.
For Bears’ coach Cody McCullough, who had just four practices with his team ahead of the tournament, the effort his squad put forth was admirable, although he sees areas where improvement is needed.
“I think the takeaways from the tournament are that we need to be better on the boards, close out better against good shooters, and use the entire court offensively. Still, I’m happy that we had some really good stretches of defense and that we never gave up when things didn’t go our way,” said McCullough.
Senior Guillermo Jauregui was named to the All-Tournament Team.
Also participating in the Invitational was Colusa, who had a rough go of it in the first two rounds, falling 67-58 to Orland and 53-36 to Pioneer before salvaging a 70-34 win over Live Oak in the game for seventh place.
Pressure defense paid off for the RedHawks in the final contest, as they held the Lions to a total of six points in the first half, and cruised to the victory.
Senior Nick Price paced Colusa with a game-high 17 points, while sophomore Landon Humphrey finished with 14 points.
Both the Bears (2-1) and the RedHawks (2-2) returned to action earlier this week with Pierce heading to Nevada City on Tuesday to take on Sierra Academy before opening play in the Victory Christian Tournament in Carmichael today, while Colusa hosted West Valley on Dec. 7 and is in Marysville for the Les Schwab Tournament beginning this evening.
