Bishop Diego won the second quarter 13-0 and stayed ahead for the rest of the game.
Well, almost the rest of the game.
A truckload of second-half turnovers allowed Muir to hang around and eventully beat the Cardinals on a buzzer-beating 20-footer by Quincy Jones, 47-45, at the Holiday Classic on Saturday morning.
“We’ve got to stop turning the ball over… It’s the little things, like we’re quick enough to get by them but we have to turn and face the basket first,” said coach Ray Vazquez. “It’s tough to take any positives from today, but we played a lot better.”
After a 50-point loss to Venice on Friday night, it certainly was a big improvement for Bishop, which was led by 14 points from Paul Garcia.
“It was pretty tough… We almost had it; no one thought that last shot was going in,” said senior Connor MacGillivray.
There were stretches in the second half in which the Cardinals struggled just to get the ball past halfcourt against the Mustangs’ pesky full-court press. Vazquez said he wasn’t looking forward to watching the game Saturday night because of the turnovers. San Marcos coach Jarrod Bradley, whose team plays Muir on Monday, said the Royals were going to practice by playing some 6-on-5.
But the Mustangs were as cold as J.R. Richards Gym (the scorekeepers were wearing gloves) on their jumpers and lay-ups, and the Cardinals stayed ahead thanks to fast-break points and solid free-throw shooting. Deshawn Hayes hit a trey to cut the Bishop lead to one at 43-42, but Elias Muñoz hit a pair from the charity stripe to push it back up to three. Hayes hit another one, however, to tie things up at 45 apiece.
The Cardinals (5-6) had the ball with three seconds left, but turned it over one final time, leading to Jones’ clutch shot.
Bishop takes on South Pasadena at 11:30 a.m. on Monday.
MUIR 47, BISHOP DIEGO 45
MUIR — Owens 17, Hayes 2, Gordell 2, Felton 2, Dunlop 1, Hayes 15, Jones 8. Totals 19 2-7 47.
BISHOP DIEGO — Nevarez 2, Slaught 7, Fling 1, Garcia 14, AGonzalez 2, BGonzalez 2, MacGillivray 6, Muñoz 7, Tack 4. Totals 15 14-19 45.
Muir……………..14 0 10 23 — 47
Bishop Diego….11 13 4 17 — 45
3-point goals — M 7, BD 1 (Slaught). Total fouls— M 19, E 14.
