GHS boys hoops falls to Live Oak in Hagen Finals, 57-47.
GILROY – The Gilroy High boys basketball squad’s second straight blowout victory in the Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament – Friday’s 53-33 second-round win over Harbor – meant a lot to the host Mustangs.
“We had a rough start (to the season). We’ve just got to play hard. We were lacking that the first couple of games. We didn’t have any heart in it, but the last two games we put everything we got,” said senior guard Danny Vadillo, following Friday’s impressive win. “It’s our own tournament. We’ve got to bring it.”
Back-to-back wins meant the Mustangs would play in the championship game of their own tournament and have a chance to defend their title. It meant that these mostly unknown, inexperienced Mustangs were finally finding their groove and proving they could play varsity ball.
“I wanted it bad,” said Vadillo, knowing that Live Oak had defeated Hollister in the earlier second-round contest to enter the finals. “You know it’s a rivalry, but they’re a good squad this year. We’re just going to put everything we have into that game.”
A game that pitted the hometown Mustangs – a team without a player over six-foot-four – against the neighboring rival Acorns – a squad with two six-foot-eight players and one six-foot-nine center.
“It’s going to be their biggest battle of the year,” said head coach Michael Baumgartner, recognizing the talent and height that the Acorns bring to the court. “We’re just going to have to be able to go after the ball like it’s ours and protect it… and we have to hope that their big guys get in foul trouble.
The Mustangs stepped right into it with Live Oak in Saturday’s championship. While some felt that the Acorns (10-1) would run away with the victory – solely based on size – the Mustangs (5-6) made a game of it in the first half before bowing to champ Live Oak, 57-47.
“We put ourselves in a position that a lot of people didn’t think we’d get into,” Baumgartner said. “We’re proving a lot of people wrong right now. We’re playing really strong.”
Senior forward Erik Tollison showed no fear in the land of Live Oak giants – sparking his squad with eight first-quarter points. Tollison went inside with his baby hook shots and even felt it from the outside with some soft jumpers in the early going.
“The little hook shots, we teach them. They’ve been taught that since they were freshmen,” Baumgartner said. “It’s (Coach) Jay Baksa. He’s been teaching them that since they were freshmen. If you hear Jay Baksa every time they touch it down low, ‘Hook shot, hook shot.'”
Gilroy implemented a full-court press – which flustered the Acorns early on and forced several turnovers. At the end of the first quarter, the Mustangs found themselves holding onto a 16-15 edge.
“It’s kind of hard to keep that intensity and that discipline when you’re getting tired,” Baumgartner said. “It’s hard to sustain that. We played it the best we could… They started to look over the top.”
Fans from both neighboring towns began to chant back and forth at each other. For every ‘Live Oak’ shout there was a ‘Gilroy’ counter shout – adding another element to the intense battle going on on the court.
Following a Live Oak bucket to open the second quarter, Gilroy was hit hard by accidental contact as Tollison was elbowed in the face and forced to the bench. Tollison’s front tooth was cracked in half.
“I felt fine, but I just wanted to get back out there and show my team that I wanted it more than they did,” said a courageous Tollison, who sat out the rest of the second quarter, but returned to action in the second half. “I thought we had them the first half. They made a bucket at the buzzer to go up by one and after that it just seemed to go downhill.”
With Tollison icing his mouth in the second, the Mustangs did everything they could to hang with the Acorns, and they did. After a Brandt Chacon trifecta gave Gilroy a 27-24 lead late in the quarter, Live Oak netted the final two buckets to go into the lockeroom with a 28-27 advantage.
“When (Tollison) sat down on the bench for the last five minutes of the half, we still stayed with them. Yes, if he was in there, we probably could have been more of a force offensively. But we didn’t have any letdown on defense,” Baumgartner said. “That’s why Kyle Loving deserved that All-Tourney. He didn’t score a lot of points for us, but he just played so solid down low against guys that are a foot taller than him.”
Loving and Vadillo were Gilroy’s All-Tournament selections, while Live Oak’s Miles Curley was named the tournament’s most valuable player and Acorn teammate Maciek Bratkowski was picked for All-Tourney.
“(Live Oak) is big and strong. We knew if we put some pressure on their guards that we could sustain and, hopefully, we’d get their big guys in foul trouble, not our big guys,” Baumgartner said. “It kind of backfired a little bit. I know we played a lot better, to be honest with you, than I thought we would.”
But in the second half, the Mustangs suddenly went cold from the field – not scoring a basket for the final four minutes of the third quarter and nearly three minutes into the fourth quarter. Chacon finally broke the drought with 5:10 remaining – but the Mustangs were in a 51-35 hole.
“We have to score out of the set offense. We just can’t look to one guy and clear out,” Baumgartner said. “We need more of a force. If we’re having to look to a six-one guy (Tollison) down low against six-10 kids, what kind of success are we going to have, I don’t know.”
Despite finishing 5-of-19 from the free throw line in the loss to Live Oak, Baumgartner was satisfied with his team’s 2-1 record in the Hagen Tournament.
“We’re starting to play a lot smarter, starting to play as a team,” Baumgartner said. “I never question those kids effort.”
JV AND FRESHMAN FARE WELL: The Mustang junior varsity squad placed fourth in the Bob Hagen Tournament – finishing with a 1-2 record. Gilroy’s Peter Mikartz was named All-Tournament. The JVers are 6-4 on the season… The Gilroy freshmen squad got treated to Hagen Tournament action as well after a team from Fremont/Oakland was a no show. Playing against JV squads, the freshman topped Alvarez 74-24 and Hollister 52-45 for the consolation prize. Gilroy’s Ryan Chisolm was named to the All-Tournament team.
