Mitre drains four treys in 46-40 victory over Palma
GILROY – Something had to give as both the hometown Mustang hoopsters and Palma entered Tuesday’s Tri-County Athletic League contest without a league win.
It was a battle through every quarter, but Gilroy eventually came out on top, defeating the Chieftains in front of a large crowd, 46-40.
“I feel good for the kids and the fans. The fans keep coming and the kids have stayed so positive through this whole thing,” said first-year head coach Bud Ogden, whose squad is now 1-2 in T-CAL and 3-11 overall. “They practiced hard. They haven’t given up and I think they are reaping the rewards.”
After fighting to a 10-10 tie at the end of the first quarter and then trailing by four at halftime, the garlic hoopsters came out of the locker room more determined than ever. By the end of the third quarter, Gilroy was ahead by three and stretched the spread to as many as six in the final quarter.
“I think the whole season we’ve been playing pretty good defense and offense. I think it’s just been that one quarter per game we kinda slack off a little bit and we get a little lackadaisical and offensive teams have been able to come back on us,” senior Ron Colmon said. “But tonight we came out in the second half, which has always been our nemesis, especially the third quarter, and scored on our first couple of possessions. We really played a full game, all four quarters.”
The Mustangs could not breathe easy until the final whistle with Palma’s multiple three-point threats. The Chieftains cut the gap to 43-40 with 1:21 remaining and went into a full court press that resulted in two straight trips to the foul line for Gilroy.
Junior Vince Mitre, who finished with a team-high 14 points, including four three-pointers, was the first to step to the charity stripe, but he missed the opening end of a one-and-one to keep it a one-possession game.
Mitre immediately redeemed himself by hustling back down court and causing Palma to turn the ball over out of bounds. The Chieftains (0-3, 6-11) were still in foul mode, putting Colmon to the line with 53 ticks left. But Colmon also missed his first attempt of a one-and-one, and Palma had another chance to tie.
Once again, the Mustangs kept their heads and made a clutch defensive play when senior Derrick Fellows took a charge, returning the ball to Gilroy.
Following another Palma foul, Colmon drained two straight free throws to push the lead to five with :53 showing.
“As you saw in the JV game, if they would’ve made two free throws, they would have been tied up and had a better chance,” Colmon said. “We knew we were a pretty good free-throw shooting team going in, and all we had to do was step up to the line, be confident, and make them.”
On Palma’s next trip down, Colmon came up with a big steal on the perimeter and pushed the ball up court, but could not get his lay-in to drop. The Chieftains were cold though, missing an outside jumper and then again fouling Colmon – who hit one of two shots for a six-point lead.
“We’ve still got to make those free throws, got to make those last-second layups and then it could have been (a 10-point spread). It could have been a lot easier,” Ogden said. “It could have been a lot different, but I think they’re reaping the rewards of continued good attitude and hard work and not giving up.”
Colmon finished up with 13 points, while senior guard Brandt Chacon netted 11 points and senior center Kyle Loving tallied five points. But the Mustangs got strong efforts from everyone who entered the game.
“My talk with the kids (at the end of the game) was we didn’t get those great games from our normally consistent guys, but we had Derrick (Fellows) step up and play good defense. We had Calvin (Kretz) come in and run the show pretty good,” Ogden said. “Kyle Loving had a good game, so not our normal stalwart guys stepped up.”
Up next, the Mustangs will head to league-leader Live Oak, which beat Salinas by one point last night, for a Feb. 3 game at 7 p.m. in Morgan Hill.
“We haven’t had a great season, but it’s good to come out and have the home crowd out here and get a win for them. We’ve got a lot of support,” Colmon said. “I think that we just needed a win to get our confidence going and show that we can come out here and we can play in this Tri-County League.”
