Gilroy boys open Valley Christian tournament against
Berkeley
There are your average run-of-the-mill tournaments and then there is the West Coast Classic.
There’s nothing ordinary about the tournament at Valley Christian High School for the next three days. With Berkeley, McClymonds and Foothill among the teams in the tournament, this is one of the better events in Northern California.
Maybe it’s coincidence; maybe it’s not that Gilroy finds itself in the “loaded” half of the bracket. The Mustangs open at 5 pm today with Berkeley and it’s highly acclaimed center Matt Simpkins. That follows the McClymonds-Foothill game that kicks off the tournament at 3:30pm.
“It’s a good challenge,” said GHS junior center Jason Conrad, coming off his best game of the season Tuesday against San Lorenzo Valley. “I’m looking forward to it. We all are. We need to keep him off the boards and try to get him in foul trouble. We need to take him out of his game.”
The 6-9 Simpkins had an amazing season last year at Capital Christian in Sacramento, averaging 16.7 points, 12.8 rebounds and 6.2 blocks per game. Twice, he had triple-doubles of points, rebounds and blocks. He is rated one of the top-20 big men in the nation by most scouting services. And Berkeley has a capable backcourt.
“Obviously, it’s a great challenge for us,” coach Bud Ogden said. “I don’t know an awful lot about their kids. I know that (Simpkins) is rated high.”
Ogden is wondering which Gilroy team he will see today. Will it be the one that struggled in the early going against San Lorenzo Valley, or the one that put together a 21-3 run starting in the third quarter that put away the Cougars?
“Coach (Jeremy) Dirks put in a 1-3-1 defense that was pretty effective (against SLV),” Ogden said.
It helped to take Scott Krueger out of his game. Krueger, who had 29 points in a previous game against the Mustangs and 23 last season against GHS, had 23 through three quarters Tuesday.
“Even when we had a hand in his face, his shots were dropping,” Ogden said. “We started to double him and then he started to turn the ball over. He didn’t score a point in the fourth quarter.”
It gave Ogden a glimpse of how good this Mustangs’ team can be. And yet he knows to be successful against the Yellowjackets will take that type of sustained effort throughout the game.
“Everyone’s really pumped up to get out there and play,” said Conrad, who had 10 points, 17 rebounds and seven blocks against SLV. “We’re starting to play together as a team much better. We’re starting to learn what each player is capable of and we’ve stepped it up a bit.”
As Conrad and the other players know they will have to step up their game a lot to make noise in the West Coast Classic.
