Tomelloso's 21 Key as Rams Hold off Mavericks in Hoop Thriller

Dixon High nearly let a 17-point completely evaporate Wednesday night before holding off visiting Mesa Verde, of Citrus Heights, 75-68 in Golden Empire League boys basketball action.

The Rams avenge an earlier, 62-58, loss at Mesa Verde. They improve to 3-6 the GEL and 16-10 overall. Mesa Verde, bound for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs, dropps to 6-3 in the league and 18-8.

Dixon junior guard Mike Tomelloso, who finished with 21 points, hit one of his four 3-pointers to give the Rams a 48-31 lead with 5 minutes, 7 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Sophomore guard Jakob Moraes drained a 3-point shot later to keep Dixon top, 57-40, with just 59 seconds to play in the third period.

That's when the trouble began.

Mesa Verde scored from in close, then sank two free throws before a 3-point shot at the buzzer cut 10 points off of Dixon's lead in the final 49 seconds of the third quarter.

"We started turning the ball over," Tomelloso said. "We kind of faded and they came back."

The Mavericks' run continued into the fourth quarter. Dixon needed hoops from Bryan Hallowell on a drive and Logan Mitchell on put-back to slow the rally.

Still, Mesa Verde's Andre O'Neal hit a 3-pointer to cut the margin to just 59-54 with 6:38 to play in regulation.

The Rams had taken advantage of the Mavericks 1-2-2 trapping defense that left openings for Tomelloso in the corner, Hallowell at the high post and Mitchell under the hoop.

"We practice a lot against their defense because we knew what they were going to do," Tomelloso said. "I got open shots. It was a good shooting night for me."

It seemed as though Dixon had stemmed the tide when Tomelloso lured trapping defenders toward him on the perimeter and he dropped a pass into Mitchell, who was fouled. The Dixon post standout made two free throws to up the lead to 68-59 with just over two minutes remaining.

Mesa Verde roared back when Tyler Long curled home an off-balance shot, then converted a free throw. O'Neal hit another long 3-point shot to trim Dixon's lead to 68-65 with 1:14 to play.

After the team's exchanged turnovers, Dixon worked the shot clock with under one minute to play. As the clock hit zero, Moraes put up a shot from behind the arc. The ball hit the rim, bounced high, then dropped through the net. The 3-pointer extended Dixon's advantage to 71-65 with only 38 seconds to play.

Mesa Verde wasn't done, though.

Alex Rossi connected from beyond the arc with 21 seconds left, forcing Dixon to make free throws to seal the victory.

Tomelloso and Mitchell each hit two free shots to win it.

"This was a big win for us," Tomelloso said. "Mesa Verde is a playoff team and we haven't been playing as well as we can."

Mitchell added 16 points for Dixon. Moraes finished with 15 and Hallowell nine.

The win snaps Dixon's two-game losing streak as the Rams prepare to conclude their season at home Thursday versus Marysville.