Prep Basketball: Cougars run out of gas in OT

GILROY—Christopher and Monte Vista Christian needed an extra quarter to decide the winner of Friday’s heated league contest. But it was the Mustangs who came out on top, handing the Cougars a heartbreaking 78-71 overtime loss at Christopher High.
The Mustangs went on a run in the second half to tie the game at 65-all at the end of regulation. Christopher’s Dillon Day kept his team in the game, grabbing a rebound and score in the closing seconds to force OT.
But by then, the Cougars were running on fumes.
Christopher struggled to keep up in the fast-paced overtime period and allowed the Mustangs to outscore it 13-6 for the win.
“The bottom line is that it’s a tough loss,” Christopher coach Dan Mooney said. “… Today we weren’t on the lucky side, but what can you say to these kids? They battled, battled and battled.”
Christopher charged out of the gate with a 16-0 scoring run in the first quarter. Alec Cordova accounted for 10 of those points and finished with a team-high 22. The Cougars’ momentum was short lived, however, as the Mustangs retaliated with 14 unanswered points.
“We took the lead for granted,” Cougar forward Xander Bowers said. “We should’ve kept playing as hard as we did in the beginning of the game.”
The game turned physical in the second quarter and the referees allowed play to continue despite the contact. This made it difficult for both teams to get into the paint, but Christopher’s Chad Hartman took full advantage of the outside space. He scored nine of his 19 total points off three second quarter 3-pointers.
Hartman and Cordova combined for 29 of the team’s 35 first half points. The Mustangs tightened their coverage of the duo after the break and held them to a combined nine points in the final two frames of regulation.
“Alec (Cordova) and Chad (Hartman) played their hearts out,” teammate Alex Pacheco said. “They both had a terrific shooting night. (I’m) super proud of them.”
The game was already poised to be an emotional one as Mooney’s Cougars faced a Mustangs squad of players he’d coached since they were in elementary school. Mooney left MVC last season to take over Christopher’s program.
“These are the kids I brought up since the sixth, seventh and eighth grade, so they are a very good team,” Mooney said of the Mustangs.
He continued: “Yes, we dropped the game but we are in a good place. …I wish we could’ve pulled it off after the overtime, but they were out of gas. I’m happy; I’m pleased with what they did.”
The loss drops the Cougars to 13-6 overall and 4-3 in league. They look to bounce back against San Benito at 7 p.m. Feb. 6 in Hollister.