Chacon nets game-high 36 to give Coach Bud Ogden his first win
in 64-48 nod over Alvarez
GILROY – The Mustang hoopsters could not have picked a better time than Thursday’s opening game of the Bob Hagen Tournament to get their first victory of the season.
Behind a lights-out, 36-point performance from senior guard Brandt Chacon, the Gilroy High boys basketball team rolled over the Alvarez Eagles, 64-48, to give first-year head coach Bob Ogden his first ‘W’ at Gilroy High School.
“We just came out with a lot of intensity, knew we had to win every single quarter if we wanted to win this game, and came out with a lot of energy,” said Chacon, who carried the scoring load with starting guard Ron Colmon sidelined with a high ankle sprain. “One of our main guards, Ron Colmon, he’s out so I had to step up for him and everyone on the bench had to step up.”
Chacon’s career-best was filled with a variety of high-flying, transition layups off steals and long passes as well as money three-pointers from beyond the arc.
“I don’t know how many threes he got, but he got a lot off transition. I like that part of his game maybe even more than his outside shot although he has great range,” said Ogden of Chacon. “I told him when you have some things not going, you can’t just keep pumping up threes. You can’t go jumper after jumper if they are not going in. You have to prime the pump with some scores off free throws and go to the basket and do it that way.”
Chacon did on both sides of the ball with his non-stop hustle that has become a staple of this year’s Mustangs.
“He’s obviously the heart of this team,” Ogden said. “The way he throws himself around I don’t know if he’s going to make it the whole league. He has ankles and hips and elbows and all sorts of stuff. He’s a hard-nosed kid. He’ll be fine.”
The Mustangs advance to the semifinals, where they will take on neighboring rival Live Oak, which topped Harbor in its first-round contest. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. on Friday.
“I love it. That’s why you play. You know, the rivals. We’re looking for the whole thing this year,” said senior Kyle Loving. “At first, we weren’t really sure if we could close out a game, but we got the monkey off our back and it proves we can finish off a game.”
In more first-round action, North Monterey County defeated Monterey and will play against Aptos, which beat Hollister in a barnburner, in the other semifinal slotted for 6:30 p.m. Hollister will play Monterey at 3:30 p.m., while Harbor will take on Alvarez at 11 a.m.
“It’s a great tournament, a great history, and some darn good teams in it,” Odgen said. “I’m proud of the guys for hustling and playing hard, just like they always do. Tonight I think they were a little more productive. They made some better decisions.”
Chacon netted 22 of his game-high 36 in the first half, while nine other Mustangs broke the scoring column, including senior guard Kyle Warren with 10 points and Loving with four.
“We just hustled. We didn’t let down in any quarter,” Loving said. “We kept up the intensity and it showed.”
At the half, the Mustangs held a 17-point lead at 38-22, but still two quarters as well as Alvarez stood in the way of their first win.
The Eagles cut the gap to seven in the third quarter, but Gilroy kept its composure and extended to a 10-point lead going into the final eight minutes of play. The Mustangs stretched the lead back to 16 in the fourth as their shooters stayed hot, preventing Alvarez from stealing one late.
“It’s our home court. We’ve got to take it,” said Chacon, who then looked ahead to Live Oak. “They’ve always been a really good team. They’re well coached, but we’ve been coached well, too, and we have good enough players. It’s going to be a good game.”
Coach Ogden will be heading up his first of many Gilroy-Live Oak rivalry games tonight.
“I don’t know much about it, but I’ve heard about it. We’re looking forward to that eight o’clock game,” Ogden said. “It’s a big one against another good team. We’ll have to play very well to be with them and to beat them.”
In junior varsity action, Gilroy defeated Alvarez, 65-27 to advance to the semifinals. Ryan Chisolm netted a team-high 12 points, while Jeremy Strametz added 11 and Dominic Jackson tallied eight.
