Cougars surprise crowd, strong Edison team for tourney title
TRACY — When Bill Slikker, the Weston Ranch head coach and former sophomore coach at tournament co-host West High, started this year's Tracy Winter Holiday Classic, his goal was to advance out of the first round into the winners bracket.
When the Cougars did for the first time in their three-year varsity history, the goals changed daily.
On Friday, the ultimate goal was realized when the Cougars hung on to beat highly regarded Edison 78-74 in what will certainly be remembered as one of the tournament's best championship games to date.
Tournament Most Valuable Player James Nunnally scored a team-high 17 points. Jerrell Walker (16) and
(15) both earned all-tournament honors, and Vinny Devencenzi had, by far, his best tournament showing with 13.
The win didn't come easy, though it looked like it might in the first half.
To just about everyone's amazement, the Cougars built a 49-31 lead by the break, then extended the lead to 20 early in the third.
But led by all-tournament selection Trey Gross, Edison (7-5) raced back, turning that 20-point deficit into a 62-59 lead over the final 5:39 of the third quarter
"Before this game started I knew it was going to be a track meet," Slikker said. "I said it was going to be fun to watch and not fun to coach.
"And it was not fun to coach."
The ending had to be fun.
Locked in a battle of superstars in foul trouble, Jackson — who picked up his fourth late in the third quarter — re-entered midway through the fourth and made an immediate impact.
Just moments after he returned the Cougars turned a 68-63 deficit into a four-point win.
Still down two, 72-70, with 1:54 remaining, Nunnally grabbed a rebound, went coast-to-coast and hit a pull-up jumper to tie the game.
Thirty-one seconds later he hit a pair of free throws to give the Cougars (6-3) the lead for good. Fittingly, the free throws were the result of Gross' fifth foul.
"We knew he had that fourth (foul), and every time James touched the ball we we said, 'Take it to the hole. I don't care what happens, you get offensive or he gets defensive, we're taking it to the hole.'
"That was the plan toward the end."
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Cougars overcome Edison comeback
News from the Tracy Winter Holiday Classic Championship: Weston Ranch 77, Edison 74.
An 18-point deficit at the half seemed to wind down every second as Edison High’s boys basketball team was poised for one of the greatest comeback stories in the history of the Tracy Winter Holiday Classic.
But the story of the tournament’s 18th title game belonged to Weston Ranch.
The Cougars overcame a tremendous Viking push and outscored Edison, 10-4, in the final three minutes of play to nab a 78-74 victory and championship honors Friday at Tracy High’s Swenson Gym.
“Before this game started, I knew it was going to be a track meet and I said it was going to be fun to watch,” said Weston Ranch coach Bill Slikker, a former assistant at West High. “It was fun, but not fun to coach.”
Slikker and Co. were left flabbergasted after a 31-10 third quarter Viking run. With 36 seconds to play in the third, Edison tied the game at 59. Seconds later, a three-point play from Trey Gross gave the team their first lead of the game.
In the fourth, Gross scored four of his team’s first five field goals, the last one a few moments before he fouled out of the game. He was forced to leave with 1:23 to play, and Edison would go on to score just once in his absence.
“When we knew he had that fourth, I told (James Nunnally) to take it to the hole every time,” Slikker said. “Getting him that fifth foul was our plan.”
With Gross out of the game, Nunnally sunk a pair of free throws and watched as Brandon Silva snared a layup and went 2-for-2 on technical foul free throws to clinch it.
“We kept our composure, came back and won this thing,” Nunnally said. “I was worried a bit, but I knew we would come back and play as a team.”
Nunnally was named all-tournament MVP. He turned in 17 points with 11 rebounds and six assists in the win. Walter Jackson scored 15 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, while Jarrell Walker added 16 points and 15 rebounds. Walker and Jackson were both named to the All-Tournament team. Vinny Devencenzi came off the bench to score 13 for Weston Ranch while Silva and Mi’ceal Thomas each put up six.
Gross, another All-Tournament selection, led Edison with a game-high 27 points, 17 of which came in the second-half push. He had nine rebounds as well.
“(Weston Ranch) looked real tired in the third, but they just kind of regrouped in the end and got focused,” Edison coach Rich Lynch said. “I was real proud of my guys because they were down 18 at the half. But there was no quit in them.”
Trumaine Johnson (All-Tournament) managed 13 points and four steals, while point guard Brandon Pasquel managed seven assists and 13 points. The Edison press flustered Weston Ranch in the third period, with Pasquel taking seven steals and Anthony Ramirez snagging five.
“(Edison’s) pressure defense is tenacious,” Slikker said. “I knew when we had them down 18 at the half that they were capable of coming back and winning.”
And they nearly did.
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