GILROY — No matter what Christopher did, Cole Welle had an answer.
The Aptos senior led his team with a double-double — 31 points, 11 rebounds — as the Mariners topped the Cougars 83-50 in the opening round of the 34th Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament Thursday at Gilroy High School.
“They shot the ball really well. Cole Welle, No. 44, he’s a really good player,” Cougars coach Eric Davis said. “They got out and transitioned on us. We didn’t do a good job of getting back. They were just a lot better than us tonight.”
After being held to just 18 points in the first half, the Cougars came out swinging in third quarter. Christopher put up 22 points behind senior forward Shane Suttles, who scored 10 of his 29 points in the third. Suttles also had four rebounds, a steal and a block in the game.
“Shane played really hard; Our bigs played really hard, just some of our shots didn’t fall,” Davis said.
Junior guard Chad Hartman shined in the fourth, putting up five of his 10 points — including hitting a 3-pointer from downtown. Davis said the team’s turnout was fueled by a halftime discussion in which he told them to relax and play their game, not play catch-up.
“We got behind by 22 (points) early and now the pressure is off a little bit,” Davis said. “(I told them) ‘You guys can come out and play and attack’ and we tried to. We tried to put up a fight, but that’s the way it went.”
The Cougars looked like a different team after the break. They held the Mariners to just 14 points in the final quarter. Unfortunately, their 31-point third dug too big of a whole for the Cougars to get out of.
Welle was complemented by Luke Rossi, who put up 25 points in the game and grabbed six rebounds. Shandy Victory was also vital for the Mariners with seven assists. Rossi scored five points of Aptos’ 11 unanswered points in the opening minutes of the game — a deficit the Cougars never could overcome.
“Dealing with some of their bigs, they started three big boys and our guys battled and battled. When they’re hitting shots like that, it really hurts. It kills morale, it kills your momentum when they just keep making everything they shoot.”
Evan Shapiro scored 12 points and had a rebound and steal for Christopher, while Miika Smith put up nine points and an assist.
Christopher will look to rebound as it takes on Harbor at 5 p.m. today in the consolation bracket. A win will propel the Cougars into the Consolation Championship where they will face the winner of the Anzar-Live Oak game at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. A loss, however, will place them in the seventh place game where they will face the loser of that game at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.
