BREA — The measure of a good team is how it responds after a tough loss.
After falling to Troy by two points in its last game, the Esperanza boys basketball team responded with a gritty win over Brea Olinda 47-44 in the North Hills League on Tuesday night at Brea Olinda High.
Aztecs coach JoJo Ballestero was pleased with the way his team rebounded after its first league loss.
“It felt really good coming off a tough loss,” Ballestero said. “Defensively, I thought we did a great job of winning a grind out game, but offensively, we didn’t shoot the ball well. That’s not typical of us.
“A couple of games we’ve struggled to shoot it behind the 3-point line, but I thought our guys were resilient. We dominated on the rebounds tonight. You know, we did enough defensively to win this game.”
The Wildcats had the final possession and got a clean look at forcing overtime, but Nick Chamberlain’s 3-pointer was unsuccessful and the Aztecs held on to win.
Brea Olinda coach Fred Bernard believes a game like this can build character and he was proud of his team’s effort, especially on the last play.
“We need these types of games,” Bernard said. “We took it to a 20-3 team and to have the last shot to win the game, I mean, you can’t ask for more.”
As for Chamberlain’s missed shot at the end, Bernard said: “I would give it to him tomorrow if we had a game, and he would hit that shot 9 out of 10 times. So, you know, I told him, pick his head up. It is what it is.”
Brea Olinda (11-13, 3-2) took a seven-point lead in the third quarter thanks to the long-distance shooting of Logan Severson.
Severson finished with a game-high 19 points, including five 3-pointers, four of which came in the second half.
Esperanza (21-3, 4-1) answered with a 10-2 run to close the third quarter. It took a 32-31 lead into the fourth quarter.
“It was crucial,” Ballestero said. “We always talk about how we respond, coming out of timeouts, coming out of quarters, especially halftime. I think our guys did a great job of responding, but that run was all dictated on the defensive end.”
Vincent Garza scored 12 points while Mason Moore added 11 points off the bench.
Moore helped secure the win with a clutch rebound after Jackson Fries missed the second shot of his pair of free throw attempts with the Aztecs clinging to a two-point advantage.
Moore was fouled on the putback attempt and also made 1 of 2 free throws to make it 47-44.
“His growth and his maturity from the beginning of our season to now is awesome,” Ballestero said of Moore.
Esperanza will face El Modena in its next league game on Jan. 27. Brea Olinda hopes to get back in the win column when it hosts Troy on Friday.
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