Royals strike back against Dons

BY PETER DUGRE
DAILY SOUND SPORTS WRITER

They wanted it more and made all the hustle plays and did all the dirty work to prove it.
The San Marcos Royals entered last night’s game against the Santa Barbara Dons down to their last opportunity to pick up a rivalry win. That much was evident in each loose ball and battle for a rebound. And the decisive 52-31 score put the final stamp on their gritty defensive performance.

The Royals had dropped close games in their two games against Dos Pueblos this season and in the first round against Santa Barbara. The Royals most recently lost to Dos Pueblos on Wednesday in a thriller settled by a 3-pointer in the final seconds.
Coach Jarrod Bradley said, “It’s always motivating to play D.P. and Santa Barbara. We’re the only school that has two rivalries because we’re right in the middle of them. We battle both of them for players and respect on the basketball court.”
With less than three minutes remaining, Royals’ big man Frank Nordine ensured those bragging rights by not allowing the Dons to gain possession for a final push. Nordine fought for two offensive rebounds to extend the Royals’ possession to almost a minute.
Nordine said, “I felt like I wasn’t getting the boards in the first half, so I really came out in the second half looking to get rebounds.”
Senior guard Trevor Hopkins of the Royals calmly sank four consecutive free throws down the stretch to finish out his night with 15 points. Junior forward Nick Marquez then converted 4 more to extend the lead to 19 and give him 9 for the game.
Much of San Marcos’ points came because the team tightened its grip on Santa Barbara standout Roberto Nelson. Nelson scored only one point in the first half and finished with nine. Nelson put together a push near the end of the third quarter, when he scored on consecutive possessions, the second a 3-pointer that cut the San Marcos lead to 6.
Senior forward Scott Moll of San Marcos is the player who gets the call to put the stops on Santa Barbara’s most prolific scorer and he shadowed Nelson all night. Moll also hit the basket to follow Nelson’s 3-pointer and extend the Royals’ lead to 8, 33-25 heading into the fourth quarter.
At the opening of the game, in front of the packed house, both teams crawled out to jittery starts. It took four minutes for San Marcos to get on the board behind a three-pointer by Brian Pearson. San Marcos then trailed until Hopkins found Chris Vines on a back door cut that Vines converted into a three-point play to end the first quarter at a deadlocked 8-8.
San Marcos would never look back. Including that final hoop of the first quarter, the Royals stampeded on a 19-6 run to enter the half with at ten point advantage, 24-14.
Dons Coach Chris Hantgin said, “It’s always disappointing to lose to San Marcos. They want us really bad, and we want to beat them. They just outplayed us tonight.”
With the win, San Marcos moves to .500 in league play at 3-3. Santa Barbara is now 3-4 and will face Dos Pueblos next week.