Men's Basketball Nov. 9, 2016
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Ranger post Jerry Samudio corrals rebound over OLLU guard Gabe Ramirez Nov. 9 in the Maybee gymnasium at OLLU. The Rangers won 116-95. Photo by Brandon A. Edwards
The Rangers finish strong, but couldn’t overcome their midgame lag.
By William A. Peters
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
The Rangers lost their second game of the season Nov. 2 at Palo Alto College.
Coach Louis Martinez said he knows his team can play better. This college lost 93-90 to Palo Alto’s Palominos
“We are not great right now; I don’t want to be. I want to get better,” Martinez said to his team after the game to motivate them.
“I could tell these guys easily fought to the end. We could have easily given up and lost by 20, 25, but if we would have taken care of our business, we would have won this game easily,” Martinez said of mistakes throughout the game. “We just gotta do better.”
To prepare, The Rangers had been sharpening their skills, practicing defense and effectively running plays, Martinez said.
The Rangers lost the initial tipoff, but the Palominos couldn’t capitalize thanks to the rebound by kinesiology freshman Jerry Samudio that enabled broadcasting freshman Jackson Lyder to land a 3-pointer in the first 30 seconds.
Samudio’s rebounding throughout the game was consistent, and the Rangers had improved dramatically from previous games.
The Palominos stormed from zero to 8 points at 15:06 in the first half to bring themselves back into the game.
The teams went back and forth, trading baskets until kinesiology freshman Adam Villanueva pulled the Rangers ahead with a 3-pointer followed by driving through a hole for a 2-point layup to bring them up 17-13.
The Palominos battled back and tied 42-42 at the end of the half.
The Rangers continued to lose momentum in the second half.
The Palominos began the half with possession, scoring 6 points within the first two minutes of the game.
The point deficit increased as the second half went on.
With 3:53 on the clock, the Rangers down by 15, 90-75, EMT freshman Russell Randolph scored back-to-back fouls, making three of his four shots. He followed up with 2 points, allowing the Rangers to rally.
With less than one minute on the clock, the Rangers only down by 3 at 91-88 after strong teamwork, Randolph sped through the paint and hit 2 points with 18 seconds left to play, putting the Rangers close to bringing the game back from a 15-point deficit.
With less than one second left, the Rangers gave up 2 points to a free throw on a personal foul. The Rangers called timeout and tied the game with a 3 pointer.
With 17 seconds left, the Rangers tried to find the open man.
Kinesiology freshman Gabriel Hilderbrand took the first shot with 6 seconds left but missed. He quickly recovered the ball, taking it back out to the 3-point line to try again but was swarmed by the Palominos. Hilderbrand passed to Villanueva, who took a final shot with less than one second left. Before Villanueva released, he was pushed, but no foul was called. The result was an air ball and the buzzer ending the game at 93-90, Palominos.
