NOVATO, Calif - San Marin avenged its first league loss of the season to Novato with a 49-42 win over the Mustangs' rivals in a packed San Marin gymnasium Thursday night.
The two teams met on Dec. 3 in their MCAL opener, with Novato getting a convincing 62-42 win.
“This is a good win for us mentally. We had struggled early on and turned the ball over a lot, and we were able to limit those tonight,” said San Marin guard Tyson Geraci.
You know the saying though. In a rivalry game, throw everything out the window. Anything can happen.
“Our energy was awesome. I think we are finally starting to come together,” said San Marin head coach Patrick Fahy.
It was a defensive battle early on in front of a loud and active crowd on both sides. San Marin finally got going with a pair of Shaun Samuel free throws, and Geraci kept his good play going with a three to get the Mustangs off and going. After Novato brought it to 5-4 with baskets from Albert Supradit and Nico Herrera, the teams would trade buckets for a bit.
San Marin would create some separation with Geraci knocking down two three’s and Tyler Guin doing some dirty work inside getting a bucket to give San Marin an 18-12 first quarter lead.
It was more defense in the second quarter in an evenly played affair. Neil Knight got it going with a three for Novato, but Samuel responded with one for San Marin, and then Jason Carpenter got one back as the teams went at it from beyond the arc early in the quarter.
After that, each team would trade two basket runs. Geraci and Ryan Loeber did the honors for the first one, a 4-0 Mustang run. Brandon Flick hit a three and Supradit hit a 17 footer, and Geraci finished out the half with two buckets to extend San Marin’s lead back to six at 29-23 at the half.
The third period saw 11 points scored between the two teams. Stifling defense on both sides led to not very many good shot attempts. Carpenter was responsible for Novato’s two of three points in the quarter when he scored the first basket a few minutes in.
“Our defense was awesome tonight. We were flying around. We won that game with our defense,” Fahy said.
Aggressive defense on both sides led to some foul trouble, in particular Matthew Sargent, who spent most of his night on Carpenter.
“We wanted to make his shots difficult, and make his life difficult,” said Fahy.
Samuel continued his nice night with back to back buckets. Geraci would finish the quarter with the final four points.
The game’s energy shot up another level in the fourth quarter, and it wasn’t just on the court. Both student sections seemed to be getting louder, and the cheerleaders seemed to be doing more and more flips down the court.
“The atmosphere was great tonight. Our fans are always awesome and have supported us all year,” Fahy mentioned.
The teams would trade buckets for a while in the fourth. With San Marin holding a 43-33 lead, Novato would creep back in with a 6-2 run, with Carpenter scoring all six for the Hornets. The run made it 45-39 San Marin.
A steal gave Novato the chance the needed with just over a minute left, but Carpenter missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity. Guin would hit a pair of free throws for San Marin to open up a 47-39 lead. Carpenter hit a three to cut it to five and fouled Sargent.
Sargent missed the front end, giving Novato a chance, but Geraci intercepted a cross court pass and was able to throw accross his body and found Samuel who took it for a lay up to run out the clock for the victory.
Geraci finished with 24 points for San Marin, with Carpenter scoring 20 points for Novato.
San Marin (4-14, 3-6) will host Tamalpais on Saturday and are winners of three of their last six after losing 11 in a row.
“We’re starting to come together. We’re healthy, and playing good basketball right now,” Fahy commented.
“We’re now connecting with one another. Mentally we are a different team now.” Geraci said.
Novato (8-11, 1-8) will travel to Redwood on Saturday night. In the first meeting, Redwood blitzed the Hornets 68-49.
