San Ramon 85 Escazu 93

In a five team league, the schedule can sometimes get funky. After losing to Barva last week, we had a full week between games allowing us to work on a few things before our game against defending champ Coopenae San Ramon. San Ramon has also been dealing with roster issues of its own as injuries and suspensions have limited their team from being in sync. So here was a key showdown with two teams trying to shape their identities going into this game.

Coopenae San Ramon had one big addition recently in filling their second foreigner spot. They brought in Nino Williams who played his college ball at Kansas State. Isaac Conejo has been dealing with a hand injury while Jefney Anderson was serving out a suspension picked up in the Torneo de Copa Finals.

The first half was a high scoring affair. We traded baskets for the whole twenty minutes. Neither team could break away, as each went on mini-scoring runs. Michael was big on the boards, but too many times he dribbled right into a San Ramon trap leading to a turnover. The score went into the half with San Ramon leading 45-43.




On of our points of emphasis in the locker room at halftime was to do a better job of controlling the ball; we had 13 turnovers in the first half! We did a better job of cleaning up our turnovers in the third quarter, and behind Michael Jackson's timely steals, were able to build a ten point lead.

In the beginning of the fourth quarter, we played zone for a few possessions. Jorge Arguello countered with a full court press, taking advantage that our point guard was on the bench. The zone did its job in the first three possessions, so well that I decided to ride it out a bit longer. Note to self: stick to the plan. San Ramon eventually moved the ball enough to find the gaps in the zone and get some baskets. Turnovers against the pass helped them get easy baskets, and in the blink of an eye our eleven point lead was gone. Now with a head full of steam, the San Ramon guys were flying all over the place, getting fast break baskets. Giorgio Milligan hit a big three to put them up by six with seven minutes to go.

With the game in the balance, Nick Leon took over down the stretch with some big baskets. Michael Jackson came in from his brief rest to clamp down the defensive end on the perimeter while Juan Carlos Rosich patrolled the inside. We were able to get some key stops in the last minutes, and with San Ramon running half court traps, Mike was able to find Juan Carlos for a pair of game-sealing dunks.

Notes

• Nick Leon had 35 points while Michael Jackson had 31. First time in my career that I've had two guys over 30 in the same game. Michael also had 12 rebounds, while Juan Carlos Rosich had 11 boards in little over twenty minutes. 
• San Ramon had a balanced scoring effort with five guys in double figures. Giorgio Milligan led their scoring with 22, while newcomer Nino Williams had nine rebounds.