Ramona Stages Rally to Defeat San Pasqual

The Ramona Bulldogs and center Travis Knight were ready for Wednesday night. They remembered how badly they were beaten twice last year by their opponent--San Pasqual.

Knight was so nervous last year about facing San Pasqual center Erik Meek that Knight almost didn’t show for one of the games because he was sick to his stomach.

But Knight and his teammates defeated San Pasqual, 76-72, Wednesday in their Avocado League opener after coming from 14 points down in the third quarter.

Knight, 6-feet-9, was still outplayed by Meek, who is 6-feet-10, in a spirited duel that involved a lot of taunting by both players. But Knight held his own--scoring 16 points and grabbing 15 rebounds--before fouling out with 2:27 left in the game and his team ahead, 64-63. Alfonso De La Nuez, a senior guard, led Ramona (6-3) with 28 points and Clint Cook added 22, including eight in the Bulldogs’ fourth-quarter comeback. San Pasqual fell to 4-5.

Meek wound up with 28 points and 13 rebounds, but he did not score after Knight fouled out.

Meek missed the first of his two free throws. After the miss, San Pasqual guard Chris Hancock, apparently not realizing Meek was shooting two free throws, rebounded the ball and shot it.

The referee called a dead-ball technical on Hancock. De La Nuez made both free throws, and Meek missed his, giving Ramona a 66-63 lead. From there, De La Nuez converted four consecutive free throws to put Ramona up, 70-63, with 1:35 left.

Meekdid not not touch the ball again until 35 seconds remained and his team trailed, 72-68.

Meek finally grabbed a rebound of teammate Richard Stark’s free throw and was fouled. He made both free throws to cut the lead to 72-69.

After a Ramona turnover, San Pasqual had a chance to tie, but David Prieto’s three-point attempt went in and out. Ramona’s Jerry Taylor grabbed the rebound, was fouled and he made both free throws to ice the game.