After one time around in Tri-County Athletic League play, Gilroy
has proved it can beat everyone.
Gilroy – After one time around in Tri-County Athletic League play, Gilroy has proved it can beat everyone.
But after the Mustangs’ 69-56 win over a young Sobrato squad Tuesday night, Gilroy head coach Bud Ogden made sure to remind his team of the insignificance of his team’s perfect record so far.
“I said, ‘We beat everyone once last year, but we lost to everyone once, too,'” the coach said.
Sitting at 15-6 overall and 6-0 in TCAL, the Mustangs now head to San Benito Thursday to take on the ‘Balers (9-11, 3-3 TCAL) for the second time.
And Ogden hopes to see a better effort than his team gave against the Bulldogs.
Despite having an significant advantage in height and experience, Gilroy struggled to put a satisfying lead between itself and Sobrato (6-12, 2-4 TCAL).
“They did a good job of neutralizing our size advantage,” Ogden said. “But I have no idea how they did it.”
Scrappiness appeared to be one way. Twice – late in the third quarter and late in the fourth quarter – Sobrato scratched its way back from double digit deficits to get within four points of the Mustangs.
But after Gilroy forward Kameron Handy (11 points) made the second of a pair of free throws to put Gilroy up 56-51, two electrifying Dominik Wilkins-to-Frankie Tomasetti connections flattened Sobrato’s comeback bid.
After Handy’s free throw, Sobrato missed a lay-up at the other end. Gilroy forward Destry Jones grabbed the rebound, outletted the ball to Wilkins (12 points, two 3-pointers) who lofted long alley-oop pass to Tomasetti. The junior, who sat out Saturday’s game against Salinas with an injured thumb, laid the ball in on the fly to put Gilroy up 58-51 and force the Bulldogs to take a timeout.
After the break, Wilkins stole the ball and found Tomasetti at the other end of the floor again. This time, Tomasetti finished the play with two-handed jam that lit up the crowd and the bench and gave the Mustangs a 60-51 advantage with about 1:30 to play.
“(Dominik) knows I’m always running,” said Tomasetti about the two plays. “I just say, ‘Look up and I’ll be out there.'”
Added Ogden, “We thought we could get some breakaway baskets. We got a couple early and looked for it later on. They were huge.”
Also contributing for Gilroy were center Jason Conrad (11 points), Jones (8 points) and guard Jeremy Teschera (8 points).
After the game, Ogden expressed concern over the progress – or lack thereof – that his team showed in the game, particularly when it came to post play.
“I don’t know what happened to (our big guys),” Ogden said. “We just have to continue to improve. In the last week or so, I haven’t seen improvement like in the past.
He added, “It takes a super human effort to keep the intensity up against every team. That’s the true test of a champion.”
Gilroy 69, Sobrato 56
Sobrato 10 14 20 12 -56
Gilroy 14 20 14 21 -69
Gilroy (15-6, 6-0 TCAL); Sobrato (6-12, 2-4 TCAL)
