Terra Nova holds off fiery Westmoor

And while the Tigers (6-2 PAL North, 14-6 overall) squandered not one, but two 16-points leads, they got just enough currency in back-to-back 3s at the start of the fourth quarter by Justin Milch and Jordan Salgado to hold off Westmoor for a 58-54 victory.

“We’ve got a couple guys that can really stick it,” Terra Nova head coach Kenny Milch said. “And when they’re hitting collectively, it’s tough to defend.”

Terra Nova shot 43.9 percent from the field, including 7 of 17 from beyond the arc. But it wasn’t until the Tigers started seeing a monumental first-quarter lead slip away that the 3s started falling.

With Westmoor shooting just 1 of 14 from the field in the first period — not hitting its first field goal until guard John Lloyd Aguas scored a put-back with 1:41 left in the quarter — Terra Nova opened up a 19-3 lead. As has been commonplace with Westmoor’s Jekyll and Hyde offense though, things changed suddenly to start the second quarter.

“We just played with no energy” in the first quarter, Westmoor head coach Herb Yaptinchay said. “And I just got into them a little bit with just stopping ball. … And we did a much better job. We started getting some spots and started making some buckets.”

The Rams (5-3, 10-10) opened the second quarter on a 10-0 run, closing the deficit to 19-13. But, while the Tigers made just five field goals in the period, four of them were 3-pointers, including two by sophomore Justin Milch, who went for a game-high 22 points.

Terra Nova junior guard Jordan Salgado matched Justin Milch with three 3-pointers in the game to score 16 points.

“We’ve got take those good shots, no matter what,” Salgado said. “They’ll always go in, no matter what.”

With three minutes to go in the third quarter, Terra Nova again improved its lead to 16 points at 44-28. This time the Rams had an answer in the form of the one-man show that was junior guard Jasaiah Cox.

A transfer from Riordan, Cox was playing in just his seventh game for Westmoor, after sitting out the non-league preseason as per Central Coast Section transfer rules. He scored just one point in the first half, but ultimately got going to net a team-high 15 points.

“We saw him get hot before and knew he was capable,” Kenny Milch said. “And he was able to shake loose of my defense and certainly knock those things down.”

Cox knocked down an impressive step-back 3 with 2:41 left in the third quarter to make it 44-31. He added another 3 and a running floater 2 in the period to cut the score to 44-36 to start the fourth.

“The good thing is he’s been able to meld with our group,” Yaptinchay said. “Because … we’re very up-tempo, we’re high energy. And he’s been able to meld in with that. Obviously he’s still trying to figure it all out because this is game No. 7 for him. But … he’s been a great edition for us.”

Terra Nova was ice cold from 3-point range in the third quarter, missing four straight early on and not attempting another one for the remainder of the period. Kenny Milch said, unequivocally, that he did not red light his 3-point shooters.

“No,” Kenny Milch said. “Our guys have the green light from start to finish. I tell them, ‘you keep shooting unless I tell you to stop.’ And in my 17 years, I’ve never told them to stop.”

And it’s a good thing he didn’t. After senior Jeremy Keller hit an eight-foot jumper to start the fourth, Salgado and Justin Milch popped back-to-back 3s to give the Tigers a 52-36 lead. Still, the Rams would not go away.

Westmoor kept cutting and driving and making magic, especially on the offensive boards. The Rams grabbed five offensive rebounds in the final period, and ended up outrebounding the taller Tigers 35-33 throughout.

“We have to work harder just to get boards,” Yaptinchay said. “We have to work a lot harder to get certain kinds of stops, when they get the ball inside. So, there’s a fatigue issue. Some of it too is just execution. Sometimes, we get the speed … instead of just saying, ‘OK, I’ve got to slow myself down.’ And that’s a hard thing for anybody to do.”

Aguas was the biggest culprit, recording a double-double with 14 points and 14 reboudns. Eight of those points, and six of the rebounds came in the fourth quarter. But it was junior forward Niko Martinez who had the most timely put-back, off his own miss, to close the deficit to 53-48 with 2:29 to go. A quick Tigers turnover and a pair of free throws by Westmoor’s Phoenix Pagaduan, and the lead was cut to 53-50 with 1:55 to go.

Then it was the offensive rebound that wasn’t that slayed the Rams.

Westmoor got the ball back on Terra Nova’s 18th turnover of the game. Then senior guard EJ Perucho took aim from the corner for a would-be game-tying 3. The ball drew iron, but ricochet wide, where Aguas and Martinez were both stationed. Either one of them could have easily grabbed the board and passed it back out for another try, but instead, not recognizing they were on the same team, they both scrapped for the ball simultaneously and ended up pushing it out of bounds with less than a minute to play.

Terra Nova won the free throw fest down the stretch to close out the win.

“The shot goes kind of awkward because it bounces and they’re both there,” Yaptinchay said. “There’s two white shirts and they’re just trying to get the ball. Unfortunately, they’re kind of panicking. … And end up falling out of bounds. That’s a critical thing, but what can you do? The ball bounces a certain way and two guys just happen to be there. It is what it is.”

Next up for Terra Nova is Wednesday’s showdown with first-place Jefferson. The Tigers defeated Jeff in season’s first league matchup 59-54.

“We can do it,” Salgado said. “We beat them once and I think we can beat them again. They’re a great team. They’re well coached. But we’ve got something up our sleeves as well.”