GILROY – Gilroy High senior guard Greg Hamik continued his hot
shooting ways in the finals of the 30th annual Bob Hagen Memorial
Tournament.
Hamik led all scorers with 25 points, but it wasn’t enough to
give the Mustangs the tourney crown as Gilroy fell 63-46 to Harbor
High-Santa Cruz Saturday night at Gilroy High.
GILROY – Gilroy High senior guard Greg Hamik continued his hot shooting ways in the finals of the 30th annual Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament.
Hamik led all scorers with 25 points, but it wasn’t enough to give the Mustangs the tourney crown as Gilroy fell 63-46 to Harbor High-Santa Cruz Saturday night at Gilroy High.
The Harbor Pirates had three players score 13 points or more, including 22 from tournament MVP Colin Gruber.
Gilroy defeated Live Oak Thursday night in round one, then dispatched of Aptos 56-41 in the semis a night later.
“Its a little bittersweet to get the finals and not win it, but that’s a really good team over there,” Gilroy head coach Jeremy Dirks said. “I’m proud of my team. This is a loss we can learn from.”
Both teams dug in defensively in the first quarter, but it was Harbor that came away with a narrow 11-7 advantage after one.
With 6-foot-7 center Mitch Postle anchoring the Harbor defense in the middle, nothing came easy for Gilroy in the paint.
“We haven’t faced a team this big yet this season,” Hamik said. “They started out with a lot of intensity, more than us. That’s definitely the biggest guy we’ve played. I think we relied on our jumpers too much.”
Hamik, a gifted scorer no matter who’s standing in the middle, scored the only two field goals of the quarter for the Mustangs, but didn’t get much help.
A 4-point advantage for the Pirates quickly expanded in the second quarter when the eventual tournament MVP caught fire.
Gruber, who also blocked six shots along with his 22 points, scored in a variety of ways in the second.
First up was the hard drive, bucket and the foul. That was followed up with a smooth pull-up jumper and a quick Gilroy timeout.
Postle also got going in the middle, the big junior finished the game with 16 points.
Harbor outscored Gilroy 20-9 in the second quarter and lead 31-16 at the break.
“We missed a lot of easy one’s tonight,” Dirks said. “Both of their main guys got going and we couldn’t stop them.”
After the 10-minute intermission, Hamik quickly shot his team back into the game. Two quick trey’s and a pretty runner in the lane all connected as the Mustangs trimmed the lead to 33-25.
“I like going against good players,” Hamik said. “It lets me know what I need to work on to get better.”
Harbor broke the Gilroy pressure the majority of the night, including back-to-back easy buckets from Postle midway through the third.
Harbor led 46-33 after three quarters.
Senior Michael Hartman finished the night with six points. Senior Andrel Gaines chipped in five in defeat.
The Mustangs couldn’t get any closer than eight points in the second half.
Both Hamik and senior forward Dolapo Opere were named to the all-tournament team after the game.
Pioneer High-San Jose defeated Aptos in the third place game held before the tournament finale between the Mustangs and the Pirates.
The Mustangs hit the hardwood next on Dec. 28 in the opening round of the Live Oak tournament.
Gilroy is now 7-2 overall on the young season, while Harbor improved to 6-2 overall.
