Co-host Vista del Lago boys’ basketball team lost its opening game of the Folsom-Vista Invitational on Thursday night falling 68-58 to visiting Del Campo.

The effort was there, but Vista’s opponent took advantage on turnovers and erased a 34-33 third-quarter comeback lead by the Eagles. It was Vista’s last lead of the night and part of a 16-1 Del Campo run in the last four minutes of the quarter. Combined with more turnovers than individual Vista scorers, the third quarter made it tough to comeback.

The visitors’ first double-digit lead came in the same quarter and despite kicking it down to a seven-point deficit in the fourth, the Eagles fell into a full-court press trap on several occasions. A one-man highlight reel nearly battled the entire Del Campo team, however.

Captain and senior guard Patrick Lowman began the third quarter with back-to-back three-pointers only to do it again in the fourth, both times electrifying the gymnasium. He drained seven threes as part of a 32-point night, which in comparison to the nine three-pointers made by the entire Del Campo team, was even more impressive.

“Our team has a lot of good shooters and some days one person is on and other days someone else. It just happened today I was on and they were falling,” said Lowman.

Vista led 37-33 midway through the third quarter in its largest lead. The 9-0 run to start the second half was led by Lowman’s three shots from beyond the arc. He hit three-of-four prior to his team scoring one point in the final four minutes.

“That run hurt, but we kept our heads up and kept fighting,” said Lowman. “We didn’t think it was over until the final seconds. We would have liked to win this for our fans as the host team, but we’ll be back ready tomorrow.”

Del Campo brought a full-court press every minute of the game, leading to Vista turnovers and opposing dribble drives. Vista coach Matt von Tillow spread out his backcourt and found passing lanes through the press. More times than not Del Campo forced a hastened shot or turnover.

It looked like Lowman might spark a comeback on both occasions where he spotted up for threes and drew fans to their feet. Vista scoring outside of Lowman was a bit sparse, though.

Big man Tyler Jones was strong in the paint to start the game and found offensive rebounds throughout. He finished with 11 points. Drew McPherson had his mid and long-range jumper working and also put in 11 points.

The big three combined for all but four of the Eagles points. Ryan Rodriguez and Ian MacLachlan each had two points.

“We came out on fire like we needed to get back in the game, but we turned the ball over a little too much at the end,” said von Tillow. “Pat really showed how valuable he is to this team. When we were down he got us back multiple times. The effort was great from everyone though, and we’re going to come out tomorrow and not even worry about tonight.”

The three-day Folsom-Vista Invitational continues at both Folsom and Vista high schools on Friday and runs through Saturday.