SAN PEDRO The San Pedro boys basketball has been the underdog all season with a lineup of players standing 6’0 and shorter.
Saturday was another case as the top-seeded Pirates hosted fifth-seeded Bakersfield North, featuring three players over 6’5, including 6’7 Nathan Becerra.
Stopping Becerra proved too big a challenge for San Pedro (23-12) as the senior scored nearly half of North’s points, finishing with 25 with 14 rebounds in 52-47 win, ending the Pirates’ season in the CIF SoCal Division V Regional semifinals.
“We made too many uncharacteristic mistakes tonight, missing a lot of easy shots we normally make, as well as missing a lot of free throws which is usually our strength, but give credit to them as they probably caused some of that,” San Pedro coach John Bobich said. “I can’t be more proud of our boys and how hard they fought right up until the end.
“This was great for our school and the San Pedro community came out and gave us tremendous support tonight and throughout the year. Wish we could have pulled it out tonight for them.”
San Pedro started slow only scoring 14 points in the first half. North took a 24-14 at the halftime break.
The Pirates came to life to start the second half scoring the first five points. However, Becerra answered with consecutive baskets to get the lead back eight and Wyatt Huner hit a 3-pointer to put North up 33-19, with 2:33 to play.
A late San Pedro run, keyed by a 3-pointer from Ricky Alonso and a basket from Saavedra, put the Pirates within striking distance (33-27) heading into the fourth quarter.
“We started playing with more urgency in the second half and started turning up the defense and hitting some threes to get back in the game,” Alonso, who had six of his eight points in final nine minutes of the game, said. “This was a fun season to be a part of and I wished we could have had a better finish, but we will be back here again next season.”
In the fourth, San Pedro got within four points, but that was answered by North, who would build their lead back 12.
As time ticked away, San Pedro made one final push. In a frantic final minute, Saavedra hit one of two free throws, then got a steal, which led to a A.J. Bobich corner 3-pointer to make it 50-47 with 17 seconds left. North would put the game away on a game-clinching lay-up with eight seconds remaining.
“It’s a good and bad feeling tonight,” Saavedra, who scored 15 points, said. “We proved a lot of people wrong that were counting us out before the season and even tonight many people were saying that we didn’t have a chance to win.
“I had no doubt, but I thought we were the better team, we just didn’t start playing like it until near the end. There was a lot of ups and downs this year, but we came out playing hard every day and look where it got us, we are motivated to get back here again next season but to go even further.”