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Frosh struggle against press
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The Ceres High freshman basketball team opened the 2004-2005 season with an impressive 53-point victory over Livingston on Tuesday, Nov. 23.

On Wednesday, the Bulldogs played host to Sierra, which won its first game by 46 points.

"Sierra was a good team," said Ceres coach Nick Marchy. "They blew out Hughson the night before."

Slowed by a stifling full-court press, Ceres managed to score just six points in the second quarter in losing 72-37 to the Timberwolves in a non-league contest.

"They came out and really got into our face," Marchy said.

Adonis Brown and Eddie Morales each had 17 points, Nevin Sahota scored nine points and Scott Karas added eight points for the Timberwolves, who improved to 2-0 overall. Sierra's Randy Neto and Brandon Robinson both had six points, and Austin Nogueria and Stephen Slyvester scored five and four points, respectively.

Sean McLeod had a team-high 11 points, Thomas Vanderlaan added six points, and Tony Marquez and Gerald Garcia each scored five points for Ceres, which fell to 1-1 overall. Ceres' Anthony Espinoza and Yama Noorzani both had three points and Edwin Hooten and Andre Walcott two points.

The Bulldogs never led.

Ceres trailed by just five points, 15-10, at the end of the first quarter.

The Timberwolves outscored the Bulldogs 26-6 in the second quarter, and led by 25, 41-16, at halftime.

"We had way too many turnovers in the beginning of the second quarter," Marchy said. "We called a few timeouts to try to settle them down but they just kept coming after us."

The Timberwolves outscored the Bulldogs 31-21 in the second half, including 20-7 in the third quarter.

Ceres shot 26 percent (15 of 58) from the floor and 28 percent (5 of 18) from the free-throw line for the game.

Sierra shot 48 percent (28 of 58) from the floor and 44 percent (12 of 27) from the foul line.

"They had a lot of fast-break points off of steals," Marchy said.

"We weren't hitting our shots."

Ceres 68, Livingston 15

The Bulldogs routed the Wolves in Livingston on Tuesday, Nov. 23.

Thirteen players scored for Ceres.

McLeod finished with a team-high 10 points, Marquez scored nine points and Walcott and Rafael Torres each had seven points. Noorzani and Hooten had seven points apiece, Espinoza five, Vanderlaan and Kendrick Salisbury four, and Garcia, Eddie Villareal and Rigo Guerra two.

Ceres led 40-4 at halftime.

The Bulldogs outscored the Wolves 28-11 in the second half.

Ceres tourney

The Bulldogs will compete at their home tournament today, Thursday and Friday.

Eight teams will vie for the championship.

"We're going to try to win it for the school," Marchy said. - By DALE BUTLER / Staff Reporter of The Ceres (Calif.) Courier