Salinas
– Down by 17 in the fourth quarter Friday night, the Gilroy
boys’ basketball team did exactly what they needed to do: Keep
Salinas off the scoreboard.
Unfortunately, they forgot to supply the other half of the
equation
– their own scoring run.
Salinas – Down by 17 in the fourth quarter Friday night, the Gilroy boys’ basketball team did exactly what they needed to do: Keep Salinas off the scoreboard.
Unfortunately, they forgot to supply the other half of the equation – their own scoring run.
The ‘Stangs held the Cowboys scoreless for nearly six minutes and to only three points the entire quarter. But Gilroy only scored four points to answer and the Mustangs dropped their TCAL closer 63-47.
“It got to be a shootout and Salinas shot very well,” said GHS head coach Bud Ogden, referring to the first three quarters. “When they shoot like that it’s hard to beat them. We just couldn’t put it in the hole.”
But all was not lost.
Thanks to a remarkable second-half turnaround in their TCAL season in which the Mustangs went 5-1 after losing their first four, Gilroy qualifies for the CCS playoffs.
“This was a big shot in the arm for the program,” Ogden said. “(After the opening four-game skid) we started calling it a six-game season. And we went 5-1 in that six-game season.”
Things started well enough for Gilroy. The team took an 18-17 lead after the first quarter, and came out of the gate in the second continuing to shoot well.
But Salinas clicked at just the right moment.
The Cowboys went on a 11-0 run to close out the half and take a nine-point lead into the locker room.
Unfortunately for Gilroy, the break didn’t ice Salinas down enough to switch the momentum.
Hurting the ‘Stangs the most was a 10-point quarter recorded by Cowboy Kelly McCarthy on his way to a 21-point night.
In the fourth quarter, Gilroy’s defense found new life.
The boys forced several turnovers and boxed out the Cowboys under the hoop to give themselves all the chances they needed on offense.
The offense, however, didn’t respond.
What started out as a shooting war finished as an ugly defensive battle which only benefited the team with the huge lead.
“Everybody was off their game tonight,” said senior Vince Mitre. “(In the end) we should have drove harder to penetrate the inside and make some baskets.”
None of the Mustangs broke double digits. Junior center Ryan Chisolm came the closest with nine.
But now all eyes are on the postseason.
Ogden said his team can’t afford to get into shootouts with any of the teams they will potentially face.
“We have got to stop the outside penetration and work on our man-to-man coverage,” Ogden said. “We have to play good solid defense, which is what we did not do tonight.”
Mitre was optimistic about the playoffs. He said that after what the team had accomplished in their “six-game” TCAL season, it was capable of anything.
“We can hold our heads high,” he said.
“We started out bad, but look how far we came. We are proud of our accomplishment.”
