Chris Vines got to wear the hero’s cape on Saturday, hitting a pair of big 3-pointers in the closing minutes to lead the San Marcos boys basketball team to a 56-52 win over Dos Pueblos in front of a raucous crowd at Sovine Gym.
Vines was 4-for-4 from beyond the arc in the game, and he’s admittedly not known for his shooting.
“I’m more of a driver, but today I was just open for the three and I felt it all day,” he said. “It was actually a surprise to me, but I felt really good after the second one so I just kept going to it.”
Vines finished with 14 points and Nick Marquez once again led the way with 15 for the Royals, who saw a 10-point lead turn into a two-point deficit in the second half thanks to a furious rally by the Chargers.
“I’m really proud of my guys. They made the plays and they worked their butts off in practice all week,” said coach Jarrod Bradley.
It was just another home heartbreaker for the Chargers, who are 0-4 in league games at Sovine, losing those games by an average of five points. They were also coming off of a 61-60 loss to Junipero Serra at the Mater Dei Nike Extravaganza on Friday night.
Robert Vickers scored 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds with three steals for the Chargers (11-14, 2-5), who were without the services of key sophomore Jay Larinan for much of the first half due to foul trouble.
San Marcos (12-10, 2-3) built a 40-30 lead after Marquez converted a 3-point play with 3:31 remaining in the third, but DP got some momentum and had things knotted up at 44 apiece after a Larinan three-point play with 5:19 left in the fourth. The Chargers went on to take a lead after two free throws by Evan Muñoz, but Christian Rios responded with two of his own to tie things up again.
Vines hit his third 3-pointer of the game to break the tie at the 3:45 mark, then hit another with 58 ticks left to break a 49-49 tie, sending the San Marcos student section into a frenzy.
Malik Heptot, DP’s 6-8 center, got a wide-open look at a trey with time running out in the game, but it rimmed out.
“The first thing he did yesterday down at Mater Dei was stroke a three and give us our first points, so when you have a big kid that can do that, we’re happy with him taking that one,” said DP coach Joe Zamora.
Heptot finished with 10 points and 13 boards on the night.
Zamora said that while his team looked a little fatigued in the opening minutes of the game, he didn’t think that the previous night’s game was much of a factor. The team spent the night down in Orange County and slept in before returning home in the early afternoon Saturday.
The Royals host Santa Barbara on Tuesday, while the Chargers will visit the Dons Thursday.
SAN MARCOS 56, DOS PUEBLOS 52
SAN MARCOS — Vines 14, Marquez 15, Day 3, Koopmans 2, Rios 4, Mkpado 7, Moore 3, Dodson 3, Guild 5. Totals 15 15-21 56.
DOS PUEBLOS — Muñoz 2, Nelson 2, Hamilton 4, Renteria 6, Larinan 5, Heller 3, Heptot 10, Vickers 20. Totals 15 19-25 52.
San Marcos….18 11 13 14 — 56
Dos Pueblos…11 12 13 16 — 52
3-point goals — SM 7 (Vines 4, Marquez, Moore, Guild), DP 3 (Renteria 2, Vickers).
Total fouls — SM 19, DP 20.
