Arroyo Grande moves on to championship while Nipomo falls in semifinals
The Arroyo Grande boys basketball team advanced to the Division 2 Central Section championship game in dominating fashion Wednesday night, posting a 20-point win over Dinuba at home.
In the Division 4 semifinals, the Nipomo Titans couldn’t keep up with Kerman and saw their playoff run come to an end.
Arroyo Grande 60, Dinuba 40
The No. 2 seed Eagles (21-9, 10-4) defeated No. 3 Dinuba at home 60-40, turning it on after a slow start in the first quarter where the Eagles put up only 11 points and made numerous careless turnovers.
After that, however, the shots started to fall.
Adam Silmon sparked the run playing out of the high post. He caught the ball in the middle of Dinuba’s zone and made plays for himself and teammates. The senior forward finished with 15 points.
“The past two days we’ve been going over film and we saw ... they are a smaller team so our coach decided that we’d run a big man at the high post,” Silmon said. “If I was open, I take the shot or just move it and find the open guy essentially. ... But if I didn’t find an open guy, I can take the shot and drive it in because they’re big guy cannot guard me.”
Senior center Noah Morris was a beneficiary of Silmon’s passing. The big man finished with 14 points and played a crucial role with his rebounding.
Across the board, the Eagles found their rhythm from the outside. Three players made two or more three-pointers including two from Nic Simmons, three from Zach Soriano, and three from George Keskinqv.
In 2020, the Eagles reached the regional state finals but fell short. Silmon is trying to change the team’s fortunes and “leave a legacy at the schoo.l”
“I want to get that chip,” Silmon said.
The Eagles will travel to Selland Arena in Fresno and take on Porterville on Friday, Feb. 24, in the championship game.
Nipomo 54, Kerman 63
Nipomo (20-12) ran up against a physical opponent on the road that heavily guarded the Titans’ top scorer, Lucca Hart, Coach Stan Ikeda said.
“We have kids who can shoot, but tonight we didn’t shoot the ball that well,” Ikeda said. “They were real physical with Lucca. So they made it tough on us.”
Ikeda said his squad was assessed with 27 fouls versus 13 for Kerman.
Still, it was a successful season for Nipomo, which came within one game of reaching the Division 4 final.
“We got down right off the bat about 8-0,” Ikeda said. “They hit a couple of long threes, got to steal for a layup and we had to fight back the whole game.”
The Titans came within three points twice but “couldn’t get over the hump.”
“It never felt like we were out,” Ikeda said. “I felt like we were going to make a run and just, for whatever reason, didn’t have that today.”
Hart finished with 16 points. Josh Atkinson added 12 in the loss.
This story was originally published February 22, 2023 at 11:18 PM.