San Marcos Takes Over First Place in the Channel League With 64-50 Victory Over Dos Pueblos

The wins continue to pile up for the San Marcos High boys’ basketball team under first-year head coach Matthew Jordan.

The Royals pulled away in the second half for a 64-50 victory over rival Dos Pueblos and are now in sole possession of first place in the Channel League.

“There’s a lot of great teams in this league. We’re going to take it one game at a time and make sure we respect all of our opponents the same way,” Jordan said. “Definitely a great opportunity for us.I think we have put ourselves in a nice place going into the second half of league.”

San Marcos senior guard Danny Diaz led all scorers with 20 points, including five three-pointers and sophomore Aidan Conlan had another breakout performance with 18 points, ten of which came in the fourth quarter.

Dos Pueblos took an early 8-5 lead with just under five minutes remaining in the first quarter on a three-pointer by Danny Pizano. 

However, five quick points in succession by Diaz on a fastbreak layup and three-pointer put San Marcos in front 17-12 at the two minute mark of the first quarter.

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The Chargers continued to hang tough early in the game as three-point play by Coulter Jay cut their deficit to 20-15 with 7.6 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

Dos Pueblos cut its deficit to 25-22 on a basket inside by Jay with 3:20 left before halftime. 

“They never quit. That’s the bottom line,” said Dos Pueblos coach Joe Zamora of this team. “For 32 minutes they competed like I asked them to.”

San Marcos boosted their lead with a surge midway through the third quarter. A layup by Conlan capped off an 11-0 run by the Royals and put them ahead 40-27 with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter.

However, a corner three-pointer by Evan Pinsker kept Dos Pueblos in the fight by cutting the deficit to 42-34 with just under a minute remaining in the third quarter. 

Danny Pizano followed with a buzzer-beater from 30-feet away that cut the Dos Pueblos deficit to 45-37 going into the fourth quarter.

The Royals outscored Dos Pueblos 19-13 in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.

With the win San Marcos improves to 14-4 overall and 5-0 in Channel League play. Dos Pueblos drops to 8-10 overall and 1-4 in Channel League.