SENIOR CODY WICHMANN FLIES THROUGH THE TURLOCK CHRISTIAN DEFENDERS ON HIS WAY TO 29 POINTS DURING THE GRIZZLIES’ WIN OVER THE EAGLES ON TUESDAY NIGHT. THE VARSITY GRIZZLIES REMAIN UNDEFEATED IN SAL PLAY. It was a little different story in Turlock Tuesday night. The Grizzlies managed to shut down the Eagles’ outside scorers and left the Calvary Baptist Church gymnasium with a 56-50 Southern Athletic League win. Mariposa is now 6-0 in SAL play.

The first period ended deadlocked at 15-15 before the Grizzlies rolled up a 30-22 advantage at the intermission.

With Turlock Christian leading, 22-20, head coach Trace DeSandres switched his defense to a “triangle and two.” That effectively halted TC’s scoring from the perimeter with senior guards Jarrett Miller, Damon Wichas, and Frankie Peña applying the pressure.

SENIOR CODY PETERSON (NO. 22) FIGHTS FOR THE REBOUND AT TURLOCK CHRISTIAN ON TUESDAY NIGHT. THE GRIZZLIES NARROWLY DEFEATED THE EAGLES. GAZETTE PHOTO BY JILL BALLINGER The Grizzlies extended their lead in the third quarter, 45-33, before DeSandres emptied the bench so all 15 squad members saw time on the court.

Senior center Cody Wichmann dominated the paint. He dumped in 29 points and pulled down 13 rebounds, and according to DeSandres, “He had kids hanging on him all night. If he would have hit his free throws, he would have scored 35.”

Senior forward Pierce Chaney, who had solid scoring effort in his last two games, managed 9 points and collected 12 caroms. Senior guard Parker Shaddix added 5 points.

“We always have a tough time playing down there. For some reason we always seem to stuggle on that court,” DeSandres said.

Mariposa was dismal at the charity stripe, hitting just 10 of 21 free throws. Turlock Christian bucketed 9 of 13 foul shots.

The Grizzlies travel to Le Grand for an SAL contest Friday evening before facing Delhi on the Hawks’ home court on Saturday to makeup the first league game of the season. They faced Denair in a make-up game Wednesday evening.

GAZETTE PHOTO BY JILL BALLINGER