TRACY — Ripon worked hard to climb out of a 16-point hole on Thursday, only to give up an easy bucket at the end of a 55-53 loss to Kimball in the first round of the 33rd annual West High Holiday Tournament.
Dawson Downs had a good look to push the Indians (6-5) ahead with a mid-range jumper from the right wing but was off the mark. Osama Mirghani pulled down the defensive rebound for Kimball (7-4) and spotted an unguarded Tristen DeBenedetti leaking toward the other basket. DeBenedetti made the uncontested layup with 4 seconds remaining, and Ripon turned it over for the 18th time as time expired.
“We’ve been working on certain guys getting back on every shot, and they didn’t get back,” Ripon coach Dean Balcao said. “It cost us.”
The loss spoiled a terrific effort from the 6-foot-4 Downs, who registered 24 points and 11 rebounds. He shouldered the load with frontcourt mate Marcus Madoski out with an ankle injury and Landon Gillespie, Ripon’s top scoring guard, limited by foul trouble all game.
“Dawson had a really good game,” Balcao said. “He hit some big shots.”
Logan Lefebvre (nine points, five rebounds), Ethan Bauer (eight points, seven rebounds, two steals), Jack Schoolland (six points, four rebounds) and Ty Herrin (eight rebounds, four assists) were also instrumental in the comeback.
The Indians went on a 7-minute, 28-second scoreless drought in the first half as Kimball surged to a 23-7 lead.
“We had to play better defense and rebound better,” Balcao said. “We started driving to the basket more instead of settling for outside shots.”
Ripon slowly chipped away, eventually jumping ahead 45-44 when Gillespie found Schoolland for a transition layup with 4:46 to go — their first lead since they were up 4-2 two minutes into the game.
Gillespie later knocked down a corner 3-pointer to tie it at 53-53 with 1:02 to go.
DeBenedetti paced Kimball’s balanced effort with 11 points and four rebounds. Tobe Nwankwo chipped in 10 points, and rugged 6-4, 255-pound center Jaylen Anthony Rodgers had eight points and seven boards.
Ripon hopes to continue its momentum from the second half today when the Indians face Sierra in the consolation bracket starting at 4 p.m. It’s a rematch from their Dec. 6 meeting won by the Timberwolves, 51-43.
The Lions (3-1) of Brentwood bothered Sierra with its length and activity on defense, forcing 18 turnovers.
Joshua Seals kept the Timberwolves (7-4) within reach in the first and fourth periods, finishing with 16 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. The 6-3 senior forward accounted for nine of their 12 points in the opening quarter when Sierra staked a 12-9 lead. Liberty dominated the second 17-7, keeping the T’wolves without a field goal until Lucas Garcia’s layup with 1:05 left in the half.
Garcia contributed 11 points off the bench for Sierra, and Emil Esperanza added eight points and five rebounds. Scoring guard Anthony Grady had trouble getting untracked, ending with seven points, seven boards and two blocks.
Gavin Cook Whisenton fired 11 of Liberty’s 15 fourth-quarter points. He led the Lions with 17 points and eight boards. Josh Heinz added 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Liberty faces Kimball in the semifinals tonight at 7.
