SENIOR CODY WICHMANN (NO. 41) HOOKS IN 2 OF HIS 16 POINTS AGAINST BRET HARTE ON JAN. 2. HE FINISHED THE GAME WITH A DOUBLE-DOUBLE, AND THE GRIZZLIES OPENED SOUTHERN ATHLETIC LEAGUE PLAY WITH A WIN AT DENAIR ON TUESDAY NIGHT. GAZETTE PHOTO BY JILL BALLINGER When a buzzer-beater missed the mark at the end of the fourth quarter, Mariposa skedaddled out of Denair with a narrow 60-58 win over the Coyotes in both teams’ Southern Athletic League opener Tuesday night.

Head coach Trace DeSandres had just three words to describe the Grizzlies’ effort: “It was ugly.”

Mariposa raced off to a 23-12 lead in the first quarter, and bumped that margin to 35-22 at the half on the work in the paint by senior pivotman Cody Wichmann and the outside shooting of Parker Shaddix.

Then the wheels fell off the cart.

In the third period, Denair poured in 21 points to close the gap to 48-43 going into the final stanza.

“We were playing not to lose instead of playing to win,” De- Sandres said. “Our defense wasn’t very tenacious, and we let them do a lot of things we shouldn’t have.”

The Coyotes outscored Mariposa, 15-12, in the fourth quarter and narrowly missed a desperate shot at the buzzer to come up just 2 points short of sending the contest into overtime.

For the game, Wichmann had 27 points and pulled down 17 rebounds and Shaddix hit for 16 points, draining four 3-point shots. Senior point guard Jarrett Miller dished out his nearnormal 6 assists, and collected 6 caroms.

Last Saturday, Mariposa hosted Bret Harte’s Bullfrogs in a non-league tilt that was a hard-fought match through the first three quarters. MCHS would eventually prevail, 60- 41.

The Grizzlies’ huge height superiority didn’t play to their advantage in the early going against the hustling Bullfrogs.

Most of the first period was filled with air balls by both teams as the Grizzlies pulled out to a 9-6 edge.

Mariposa fell behind in the second stanza before junior guard Justin Kinalele drained a 3-pointer to deadlock the contest at 18-18 with 42 seconds still on the clock. A charity toss by Wichmann allowed the Grizzlies to take just a 19-18 lead into the locker room at the half.

The game was tied three times in the third qarter as the temperature and tempers heated up going into the fourth. The third quarter ended with a technical foul on Mariposa and the Grizzlies in front, 36-34.

Mariposa pumped in 6 unanswered points for a 42-34 lead at the 5:26 mark primarily on feeds from Miller to the paint.

A 3-point bomb by senior Pierce Chaney blew the game open with 2:30 left to boost Mariposa’s lead to 49-36.

On the next play, Wichmann and a Bret Harte player tangled and crashed to the hardwood in a struggle for a rebound. The Bullfrog was tagged with a foul, and his reaction drew a technical, which was followed by another technical foul and ejection of the Bret Harte coach.

Senior Richard Ballinger calmly stepped to the stripe and planted all four technical foul shots to move the Grizzlies lead to 55-36.

For the game, Wichmann finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Chaney, Kinalele, and Ballinger each pumped in 9 points, and Drake Long added 7 points and grabbed 9 boards. Miller finished with 7 assists and 7 rebounds.

The Grizzlies will host Turlock Christian in their second SAL contest of the 2010 campaign Friday night at 7:30 p.m.