A trio of Turlock players scored in double figures on Monday night to give the team a 55-52 win over crosstown rival Pitman and further shake up the Central California Athletic League standings heading into the final day of the regular season.

After outscoring the Pride 18-12 through the first 7 minutes, 50 seconds of the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs celebrated after a game-tying 3-point attempt from Pitman junior Cole Martin bounced off the back of the rim as time expired. The victory was Turlock's second straight, while the Pride suffered a consecutive one-possession loss on their home court. 

Over in Modesto, Gregori defeated first-place Enochs by a 58-54 score. The Jaguars and Eagles are now tied atop the league standings and have each clinched playoff spots, while the final postseason berth will come down to the two Turlock teams.

The regular season will conclude Wednesday, with the Pride (23-4, 6-3) controlling their own destiny, only needing to beat Gregori (22-5, 7-2) on the road to extend their season. The Bulldogs (12-14, 5-4) will be at home against a Modesto High team that is winless against conference opponents this year, needing to win and hope for the Jaguars to knock off the Pride. Turlock would be awarded the final playoff spot as they hold the tiebreaker over their rivals after sweeping the season series. All games tip off at 7:30 p.m.

“One of our mottos this year has been, ‘The job's not finished,’” said Turlock senior guard Ross Widemon, who led all scorers with 16 points. “We gotta keep seeing it through, keep seeing the path tomorrow, just like another day. We go into practice, work hard, we play our game against Modesto, and whatever happens, happens. We just let the cards fall where they may.”

Following his season debut on Jan. 6, Widemon has averaged more than 25 points per game. He knew he’d receive extra attention Monday after he poured in 27 against the Pride in their first meeting of the season on Jan. 22, a 56-47 Bulldog win. Sure enough, the Pride played physical, offering multiple double-teams throughout the night. It impacted Widemon early, as he scored four points on 1-for-10 shooting (1-for-4 on 3-pointers) in the first half. 

Picking up the workload that half was senior Izaak Saenz, who scored seven of his 11 total points in the frame, including a 3-pointer late in the second quarter to maintain a 20-18 lead for the Bulldogs at the break. Martin scored 9 of the Pride’s points in the half on 4-of-9 shooting. It was much-needed as his teammates were off-target on a combined 8 of 11 attempts from the field.

Martin continued his hot shooting in the third quarter, scoring five quick points. From that point on, the Bulldogs kept the 6-foot-2, 162-pound forward in check, holding scoreless for the last 10 minutes of play. He finished with 15 points on the night.

It was a 3-point party in the third quarter, as Saenz, Widemon and junior Donovan Muirbrook traded shots with Pitman’s Avery Sanchez midway through the quarter. A free-throw from Martin, a layup from Sanchez, and a floater from younger brother, freshman Ty Sanchez, gave the Pride a 35-34 lead heading into the final frame.

Muirbrook made a pair of jumpers to start the fourth to help spread the defense and catapult a 15-5 run. Widemon scored a layup before fellow senior Dutch Lawrence nailed a 3-pointer. Muirbrook then found himself open again from beyond the arc, draining the shot, then helping get a stop defensively to set up a Ray Anaya layup on the other end of the court to make it 49-40 Turlock with just under four minutes to play.

“I knew that (Pitman) was so focused on Dutch and Ross in the beginning because of the first game,” said Muirbrook, who finished with 12 points. “And so I was telling Ross during a timeout that we just need to keep working the ball across the court and guys are going to get open and we're going to hit shots. I knew it. I just saw it coming, and we just rode the wave.”

The Pride went on a run of their own, with Avery Sanchez muscling towards another layup, Ty Sanchez and junior Abhiraj Cheema hitting 3-pointers and junior Isaac Dorsey converting a 3-point play under the rim.

Widemon began killing all of their momentum by driving and drawing fouls, making one of two with 24 seconds before Avery Sanchez cut the Bulldog lead to 53-52 just eight seconds later with a layup. With his team in the bonus, Widemon was fouled on the inbound pass, and proceeded to make both shots from the line to make it 55-52, and setting up Martin’s unsuccessful attempt to force overtime.

“Since I was younger, I've always been a smaller guard," said the 6-foot-2 Widemon. “My pops always told me, low man wins. I just gotta stay low, use my center gravity. I mean, basketball is an aggressive sport. You just need to know how to play through it, use your angles, use your body, and I feel like I was able to get to my spots. That's basically what I did. I just got to my spot, got to the line, put them in foul trouble and executed.”

Turlock’s first-year varsity head coach, Rick Fetter, was proud of his team’s performance, particularly the way players stepped up in the absence of the scoring flurries made common by Widemon.

“The guys embrace Ross being the one that gets that attention. And for Ross to be able to trust his teammates and his teammates to be ready in those moments. I think that's awesome,” Fetter said. ‘That's what we practice and preach every day. Of course, you never wanted to be that close or have one the best players in the league (Martin) shooting that shot to try to tie the game, but I couldn't have written it up any better.

“I just love that the guys believe in themselves. You can just see the belief in each other. It was just a really cool team win going into this environment, the atmosphere awesome with the student sections, the band, the fans going crazy. I mean, it was just like a perfect place, a perfect night to be great. I think our guys wanted to be great today.”