Nick Marquez scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half and the San Marcos boys basetball team out-rebounded Rio Mesa 43-30 Wednesday to pick up a 64-53 win in the opening game of the Jim Bashore Classic.
Sophomore Christian Mkpado had a big game with 11 points and eight rebounds, and Chris Vines had eight points with 12 rebounds. The Royals took the lead with a 22-15 second quarter and kept it for the rest of the game, getting to the foul line and nailing their free throws. San Marcos was 14-for-17 from the charity stripe while Rio Mesa was 1-for-2.
“Both teams had high shooting percentages, but we tried to focus our defense on their top scorers (Joseph Soto and Zach Burkhardt) because everything goes through them,” said San Marcos coach Jarrod Bradley. “We played good help defense on them and they only scored 11 points in the second half.”
JP Dodson came through with a big 3-point play in the fourth quarter, driving up the middle and putting it in despite being fouled hard.
San Marcos plays at 6:30 Wednesday.
SAN MARCOS 64, RIO MESA 53
SAN MARCOS—Vines 8, Marquez 21, Koopmans 11, Mkpado 11, Dodson 8, Guild 5. Totals 19 14-17 64.
RIO MESA—Soto 16, Contreras 15, Burkhardt 14 , Cristobal 2, Lopez 2, Garcia 2, Barroso 2. Totals 17 1-2 53.
San Marcos….14 22 8 20 — 64
Rio Mesa……..15 15 7 16 — 53
3-point goals — SM 4 (Marquez 3, Koopmans 1), RM 6 (Soto, Contreras, Burkhardt 4).
Total fouls—SM 5, RM 16.
Team records—SM 4-3, RM 4-4.
