GILROY — After suffering a heartbreaking loss to Harbor on Friday, the Christopher boys basketball team was not about to go down without a fight.
The Cougars came out swinging, topping Anzar 74-16 in the seventh place game of the 34th Annual Bob Hagen Memorial Boys Basketball Tournament Saturday at Gilroy High.
Evan Shapiro led the team with 15 points and was one of four Cougars to put up double-digits. The senior guard hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put CHS ahead 41-10 at halftime.
“I’m the shooter on the team — when I need to shoot, I need to shoot,” Shapiro said. “Other than that, I run our offense to get everyone good looks. We play team ball.”
Shane Suttles and Chad Hartman both scored 13 points for Christopher and grabbed a rebound and assist. Josh Wheat put up 12 points and five rebounds.
“Anzar’s tough; They play hard,” Christopher coach Eric Davis said. “We just came out, we got them in transition as we like to do. We got some easy buckets early. We ran through some stuff really well, set screens. Defensively, we closed out and the result was good.”
The win snapped the Christopher’s two-game losing streak which began with 83-50 loss to eventual tournament champion Aptos Thursday. The Cougars’ woes continued with a 74-70 loss to the Consolation Champion Harbor Friday.
Christopher scored 12 unanswered points to open the first quarter, digging a hole that Anzar was unable to get out of. The Cougars’ only blemish on its otherwise stellar first half was the 11 team fouls committed. All of the Hawks first half points were scored off free throws.
Moreno and Victor Flores each scored four points for Anzar. Moreno went 4 for 6 from the line.
Christopher (4-3) will play in Sobrato Bulldog Chase, kicking off at 4:30 p.m. Thursday against Santa Teresa.
“We need to be ready from the tip(off),” Davis said. “We need to go from the tip and put a solid four quarters together — not two, not three.”
