The press was right on opening night.
The press was right on opening night.
Using a new wrinkle in its gameplan, the Gilroy boys’ basketball team rattled North Monterey County into 19 turnovers Tuesday and ran away with a 58-41 home victory.
“The D went pretty well,” said starting guard Calvin Kretz. “Last year we didn’t have a press. This year we’re going to be doing a lot more of that.
“We see that as our main goal … to rattle them.”
Gilroy (1-0) certainly rattled North County early and often. In the first quarter, the Mustangs forced seven turnovers and held the Condors to just one basket in taking a 14-4 lead.
“I liked the energy throughout the game,” GHS head coach Bud Ogden said. “We came out and pressed regularly and their guards had trouble breaking the press.”
The Mustang lead was up to 12 by halftime (25-13) and after Gilroy’s Dominic Wilkins and Frankie Valadez hit back-to-back threes in the third, it was 44-25 and all but over.
“We knew we’d been working hard in practice and we just wanted to come out and have fun and play with confidence,” said Wilkins, who sank two more treys and finished with nine points.
“We knew we could compete with these guys.”
In addition to Wilkins, the Mustangs were paced by forward Vince Mitre (12 pts.) and center Ryan Chisolm, who scored all eight of his points in the second half.
“It was certainly refreshing and thrilling to start out with a victory,” Ogden said. “It was fun to see the kids step up.”
For a complete preview of the GHS boys and girls basketball teams, make sure to check out Tuesday’s Dispatch.
JV rolls
The varsity Mustangs weren’t the only squad to get off to a rousing start Tuesday night. The GHS junior varsity squad rolled to a 66-37 win over North County. The team was led by center Destry Jones (15 pts) and the backcourt tandem of Robert Morcado (13 pts) and Christian Cania (9 pts/6 assists).
Five games, five wins
The Gilroy girls’ soccer team continued its hot start with a 5-0 weekend and a Silver Creek tournament title.
The Mustangs, who have seen their share of struggles the past few seasons, improved to 6-0 by outscoring its opponents 25-3 at the tourney.
GHS started out by winning all three of its games in pool play: 4-0 over Alisal, 5-2 against Silver Creek and 9-0 versus Latino College Prep.
The ‘Stangs received a bye in the quarterfinals, and then rolled to a 4-0 win over Notre Dame in the semis and a 3-1 victory over Alisal in the championship game.
