Sutter drops Bear River, 69-59
Feb. 5—The Sutter Union High boys basketball team has several shooters who can knockdown shots.
But the key each night is perhaps having someone who can set the shooters up in what is known as an inside-out game.
Sutter head boys basketball coach Nabeel Bhatti focused on Friday night on 6-foot-6 forward Jagger Beck remaining in the post to either go one-on-one against what he perceived as a smaller defender or to set up Jordan Lee, Gannon Deal and Naseem Bhatti on the perimeter.
Beck's execution of the game plan worked nearly to perfection, with the three-sport Sutter star dropping 17 points, including 11 in the second half, while Naseem Bhatti poured in a team-high 18 on multiple 3-pointers and Gannon Deal 12 points to help the Huskies win at home 69-59 over Bear River out of Grass Valley.
Sutter moved to 16-9 overall and into sole possession of second place in the Pioneer Valley League at 8-3 — a game up on Colfax, a team that Sutter plays on the road Wednesday night in the final week of the regular season.
Bear River dropped into a tie for fourth place with Marysville at 6-5 in the PVL.
The top three teams earn automatic berths into the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs, which get unveiled Saturday for all divisions.
"I watched film on (Bear River) and they had a smaller guy guarding (Beck) on the perimeter, so this time we really tried to emphasize him diving to the post and sealing or catching a back screen somewhere coming off a flex cut and getting into the post," coach Bhatti said. "He's 6-6 and it's a higher percentage shot down there."
Sutter opened it up in the second quarter courtesy of a 14-7 run to jump out in front of the Bruins, 32-22 at the break. The Huskies kept the pressure on in the third as Beck converted his fourth field goal, while Deal converted the traditional 3-point play, where he scored and drew a foul, to make it 38-27. The hosts would balloon the lead to a game-high 16 in the fourth before Bear River (14-11) suddenly found its niche behind game-high scorer Tyler Huesveldt, who poured in 28 in the loss.
Huesveldt scored 24 in the second half, including 10 in the fourth quarter, as Bear River whittled down a double-digit deficit to single digits early in the final period.
But Sutter eventually found a hold of Huesveldt, thanks in part to multiple blocks from Beck in the lane, as Sutter held off the late Bruin surge for their fifth straight win.
"Even when we played them at their place (Huesveldt) has a will for it and kept them in the game," Bhatti said. "He's relentless and gets after it. He makes his teammates better because of his ability to penetrate, but our help defense and on-ball (defense) has to be better if we are trying to make a run in the playoffs."
Sutter ends the regular season at home Friday against Lindhurst at 7 p.m.
"I told our kids in the second round we are trying to win every single game and I think we are capable of it," Bhatti said. "Going into the end of the season we have to make sure we are executing on both sides of the ball and there's always room to improve."
