GILROY—The Cougars looked to be falling into the same trap they had against Oakwood—then the second half happened.
Back-to-back 19-point quarters lifted Christopher to a 54-46 victory over Seaside in the 35th annual Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament consolation semifinals Friday at Gilroy High. The Cougars advance to the consolation championship where they will face Santa Teresa at 3 p.m. Saturday.
The win was especially sweet for Christopher following its 52-44 loss to Oakwood in the tournament opener Thursday.
“It was a good team effort,” junior Xander Bowers said. “Everyone tried harder this game and it feels good to come out with a win this time.”
Seaside held a comfortable lead for most of the game, but the Cougars finally took control when Alec Cordova hit a 3-pointer with under 15 seconds left in the third. The score swung the momentum in Christopher’s favor and it headed into the fourth up 35-34.
The Spartans opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer of their own from Andrew Jakubowsky, but Christopher quickly extinguished any chance of a Seaside rally. Chad Hartman and Bowers both assisted on back-to-back baskets from Dillon Day, who then completed the 3-point play to put Christopher up for good.
Late fouls from the Spartans—who had 18 in the game—sent the Cougars to the line where they picked up four more points to cap off scoring nine unanswered. Seaside’s Derrick Villalobos and RJ Johnson both knocked down 3-point baskets as the clock was winding down, but it was too little too late.
“It feels good to beat a league team like that—to come back in the second half especially,” Day said. “I feel like the good teams do that, so that’s definitely a confidence boost for us. We still are in the consolation bracket and all we can do now is just hope to win.”
The trio of Bowers, Hartman and Day were instrumental to the Cougars success as each put up double digits in the game. Bowers was especially lethal, recording a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds in addition to four assists, a steal and a block. Eight of his points came in the second half and Bowers credited that to his team stepping up when it counted.
“We just realized that we weren’t playing to our potential and if we worked as a team we can come out with a win. That’s what we did,” he said. “I think (we were successful) just running our plays. (At first) we were trying to go too fast and they’re a lot faster than us. Just running our plays, slowing down seemed to work.”
Hartman led Christopher with 22 points and also grabbed four rebounds as well as an assist. Seaside did their best to limit the dangerous senior forward, but ended up paying the price in freethrows. Hartman was a stellar 9 for 10 from the line against the Spartans.
Day, who led the Cougars with 18 points the night before against Oakwood, finished with 11 points, eight rebounds, an assist and a block in this game. He was held to just two points in the first half, but stellar defense from Christopher allowed him to put some points on the board after the break.
The Cougars took some time to find their footing defensively and found themselves trailing 21-10 at the end of the first. But like a flick of a switch, Christopher cranked up the heat and held the Spartans to just five points in the second quarter. It wasn’t enough to give the Cougars the lead—they trailed 26-16 at halftime—but it gave them the boast they needed for a strong second half.
“The press definitely worked. When we started pressing them I think they got a little rattled or something,” Day said. “The press definitely was a big factor and just defensive pressure and intensity in the second half helped a lot.”
Christopher (4-2) now has less than 24 hours to prepare for its consolation championship game with Santa Teresa, which beat Anzar earlier in the day. Though the opponent is different, the plan of attack for Christopher remains the same.
“(We need to) just work as a team and get everybody in,” Bowers said. “If we try hard, I think we’ll come out with a win tomorrow, too.”
