Porterville drops heartbreaking CVC opener

The Porterville Pirates (2-11, 0-1 Central Valley Conference) fell just short in a heartbreaking overtime loss to the Reedley Tigers (2-11, 1-0 CVC) in the home and conference opener, 81-79, Saturday night.

“The loss is definitely tough. It doesn’t sit well with me, but I’m happy with the way we came out in the second half,” Pirates coach T.J. Jennings said. “I feel that we played more as a team and that we were doing the unselfish things. Unfortunately in a close game like this it didn’t fall our way.”

Sophomore guard Oscar Velasquez’s trey clanked just off to the left and Damian Bilbo rebounded for a putback to beat the buzzer, but it rolled off the front of the rim as time expired.

“We had an opportunity to tie or win it at the buzzer but we just didn’t have the right opportunities before that. It was one of those games that could have easily have gone our way,” Jennings said. “It’s frustrating but at the same time I’m encouraged because as you can see, we can play. We can play with any team in this conference and I expect us to continue to battle.”

Porterville was led in scoring by freshman guard Harold Reed, who shot 7-for-10 from the field for 17 points. Reed also added four steals to the team total of 20.

Alton Williams and Velasquez both scored 14 points, shooting 5-for-9 and 5-for-10, respectively. Williams led the team in steals and assists with six each.

“In the second half, I thought Harold played some exceptional defense and I think Alton really came to play tonight,” Jennings said. “Damian Bilbo, who we call ‘Bama, had some key blocks and rebounds for us and... those three players are what we’re looking for — guys who can be spark plugs (who) do great things that become contagious for the rest of the team.”

The Pirates were having trouble rebounding on both sides of the court and were outrebounded 24-12 in the first half. Before the defensive rebounds began picking up, the Pirates had fallen behind by 11, 27-16.

They began to rally back after Velasquez hit Reed with a pass near the baseline. Reed followed up by slashing through the defense to score an easy two points and triggering a 12-5 run over the remaining 5:30 of the first half. Freshman guard Curtis Glover sank a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left in the half to get within 32-30.

“(Rebounding) is something that we stress. We continue to say that we’ve got to do the little things. We have to control our turnovers and continue to rebound, but with the size problems that we are having right now, it may be something that’s going to be a battle for us all year,” Jennings said. “We will have to get down, box somebody out and go get it. It’s one of those things that we will continue to work at and get better and better as we emphasize it.”

Porterville had trouble shooting from the free throw line, where they finished shooting 14-of-27. Reedley finished 26-for-35.

“If we could have taken care of the free throws, we could have won,” Jennings said. “They hit a lot more free throws than we did and they were able to win by the slim margin.”

The Pirates came out in the second half and held control of the back-and-forth battle in which there were nine ties and seven lead changes during regulation. Porterville’s first shot of the second half was scored on an alley-oop from Velasquez to Reed which sent the crowd into an uproar and cut Reedley’s lead to 33-32.

The teams continued to trade points back and forth until the game was tied up at 69 with 17.6 seconds left in the second half. Williams then exploited a hole in the Tigers’ defense as he slid between defenders to score a layup that broke the tie with 5.9 seconds remaining. After the score, however, Williams fouled Reedley’s 23-point high-scorer Chris Barnes-Williams. who sank both free throws to tie the game at 71.

“Really, it’s all about making the smart play. Our point guard goes down and makes the quick layup and then fouls the guy with 4.6 seconds to go. That’s just not a smart play,” Jennings said. “Those are teaching moments, and we have to use those to get ready for the next time. (Williams) is a freshman; he’s young and he is going to make some mistakes. That’s okay with us as coaches, because they are young, and they can do that as long as we learn from it.”

The Pirates were unable to take the lead back in regulation and the game was sent to overtime.