Woodside’s sharp shooters were not quite the match for Christopher High’s X-factor and some clutch buckets all around as the hometown Cougars advanced to the next round of the Central Coast Section Boys Basketball Division II playoffs with Thursday night’s resilient 69-66 victory.
“They had some ridiculous shooters,” said senior energizer Xander Bowers, who finished with a team-high 25 points to lead the way heading into Saturday’s quarterfinal match against top seed St. Ignatius. Tip-off is at 4:30 p.m. at Santa Clara High School.
“This is CCS, nobody wants to go home,” said animated CHS coach Dan Mooney following his team’s hard-fought effort that resulted in the Cougars’ first boys basketball playoff victory since 2013.
The orange crush from unseeded Woodside—which was fresh off a 73-57 first-round victory over Los Altos two days earlier—made the No. 8 Cougars (13-12, 5-8) work for every point as the game still lied in the balance until the final buzzer sounded.
“I’m just glad we picked up this win. We stuck with it until the end with Alec (Cordova) making some clutch plays,” said Bowers, whose offensive array included several unbalanced buckets in the paint as well as some sweet inside dishes to CHS big man Chris Burnett (20 points). “They were overplaying our guards so me and Chris got some open shots.”
But with 1:32 remaining in the game, Woodside trailed by only three as sophomore star Gabe Devitis’ three-point bucket followed by a pair of free throws put the score at 65-62, forcing Christopher into a time-out to stop their opponent’s momentum.
The Cougars watched the 15-point cushion that they built in the third-quarter evaporate into a one-possession game. But Cordova drained four straight free throws to seal the deal as time eventually ran out on the scrappy Wildcats (11-11).
“In the third quarter, we were up by 15 and I think we got a little too excited,” said Bowers, who was beginning to take command inside the paint during the Cougars’ 16-6 third-quarter run that had them up 54-39 heading into the final eight minutes. “We’re all feeling good going into our next game. Hopefully, we play like we did in that third quarter.”
Christopher got contributions from all over with Cordova chipping in 16 points—including a trifecta at the first-half buzzer that gave the Cougars a bit of breathing room—and senior guards Thomas Ellis and Brevin Zollinger with four points apiece. Woodside was led by Devitis, who was money from beyond the arc with a game-high 26 points, including four treys, and also got strong efforts via senior captain Drew Healy (8 points) and junior swingman Tony Baldini (9 points).
“They didn’t give up and we’ve got to protect the ball a little better,” Mooney said. “This is CCS; everyone plays hard. That’s an 11-11 team that played like a first-place team tonight. Now we’ve got our hands full.”
Mooney was looking ahead to the D-II’s top seed from the rugged West Catholic League that awaits them in Santa Clara. These Wildcats earned a two-round bye into the Saturday’s quarterfinals with a 14-10 overall record (6-8 in WCL).
After trading buckets to open Thursday’s game on their home floor, the Cougars built a short-lived 17-9 lead with 1:46 left in the first. Woodside then cut the deficit to three courtesy of a 6-2 spurt before the end of the quarter.
The Wildcats even took a brief lead late in the second quarter before a Cordova three-pointer tied things up at 31-all with 1:41 remaining until halftime. The Cougars ran into the locker room on a 10-2 run to close the opening 16 minutes for a 38-33 edge.
“We came back and got it,” Bowers said.
