Benicia High’s boys varsity basketball team can smell victory in the Solano County Athletic Conference. The Panthers simply can’t get a taste.
The Panthers put on another tease last Thursday at home in a 67-63 loss to the Bethel Jaguars. Benicia led by six with under four minutes remaining, only to have the Jags finish the game with an 18-8 run to escape with the win.
It was the fourth agonizing loss in the past five games for the Panthers, who dropped to 6-13 overall and 0-3 in the Solano County Athletic Conference. Only the top three SCAC teams qualify for the playoffs, and Thursday’s home loss to Bethel leaves the Panthers with little margin for error the rest of the season.
“It’s frustrating but we need to overcome it,” said senior Brandon Barrett, who led the Panthers with 16 points and 14 rebounds. “We need to buckle down and start getting some wins. We have to if we want to make the playoffs.”
Benicia trailed 46-37 late in the third quarter but pulled to within four thanks to big plays by Kendal Vargas and Tyjon Casey. Barrett opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer and followed with a running floater to tie the game 49-49, and Barrett, Dakarai Hughes and Peter Koenen continued a 10-0 Benicia run for a 55-49 lead.
That’s when Bethel’s Dakarria Peterson took over. Peterson ended Bethel’s fourth-quarter drought with a deep 3-pointer from the right wing, then buried another deep 3-pointer to tie the game with 1:53 left. After a missed Benicia shot, Peterson converted a 3-point play that put the Jaguars (13-6, 2-1 SCAC) in front for good.
“Every time we’d start making a run, Bethel would hit some 3-pointers to put a knife in our back,” said Benicia head coach Steve Carter. “You can’t take anything away from Bethel, but we should have pulled that out.”
“That guy (Peterson) hit some big shots from really deep; there’s nothing you can do about that,” Barrett said.
Peterson scored 11 of his game-high 19 points in the fourth quarter. Bethel co-captains Gabriel Martinez and Marcus McCollum combined for 32 points.
Brady Christopher had 11 points for the Panthers, who play at Vallejo on Tuesday.
“We’re almost there,” Carter maintained. “We have to go to Vallejo and try to salvage our season.”
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