After playing its first six games away from Gilroy, the Christopher High boys varsity basketball team hit the ground running in its home opener with a 71-48 victory over Pacific Collegiate on Tuesday night.
“It feels good to get back into the win column,” said CHS head coach Kaden Bahner, whose Cougars had dropped their previous five outings after a season-opening win Dec. 1. “I like the fact that it wasn’t a tale of two halves for us tonight. We had been struggling with slow starts. Tonight, the guys played a consistent four quarters.”
The Cougars (2-5) pushed the tempo throughout the game and had success with their active, pesky one-on-one defense which, in turn, created fast-break transition points. CHS built a 20-8 lead after one quarter of play, pushing that cushion to 37-23 by halftime.
“We are just trying to outrun our opponents right now and get a lot of layups,” said junior guard Andrew Foster, who had eight points on the night.
In all, 10 Cougars registered points, including six who posted at least six points. Wyatt Rocheleau paced CHS with a team-high 13 points, DJ Campos had 12 points – six in the fourth quarter – and Marcus Harrell contributed 10 points, including back-to-back 3-pointers in the second quarter. Nick Cordova provided another nine points off the bench. Pacific Collegiate’s Jason Gilbert had a game-high 24 points.
“We want them going as hard as they can,” Bahner said. “Tonight was a nice balance of tempo.”
The Cougars enter their third tournament of the season beginning Thursday at the annual Bob Hagen Memorial, hosted by Gilroy High. CHS plays Alvarez in the first round at 3:30 p.m.
“We know they are good,” Bahner said. “It just comes down to execution.”
