A rivalry on paper hardly translated to one on the floor as the Christopher boys basketball team easily handled Gilroy, 68-33 Friday night.
The Cougars (9-3) used its pressure defense to force the Mustangs (1-9) into 15 first-half turnovers and eventually into a 40-10 halftime lead.
Dan Mooney said the 68 points were nice, but he was extremely pleased with the defensive effort.
“The kids are playing well and I think they bought into (the philosophy that) defense wins,” Mooney said. “You can go out there and put a ball in the basket, but can you go out there and play 40 minutes of defense and really work hard on the defensive end? … That’s what I tell the kids: we have to stop people.”
While Zander Bowers had just two points on the night, he embodied the philosophy his coach preaches on the night.
“Some nights it’s going to be your night and some nights, it’s not. But when it’s not your night, you can make it up on the defensive end,” Mooney said. “And that’s how we’re going to do it.”
He had six first half rebounds, and several others where he caught airballs or tipped loose balls to teammates. He also had three blocked shots for the game.
“We didn’t think it was going to be like that. We thought it was going to be a struggle and a close game,” Bowers said of the team’s defensive output. “We just came out and worked as a team.”
Meanwhile, Mustangs coach Abrem Estorga said his boys had this game on their calendars for a long time and coming into the season, he expected this game to be worthy of the rivalry moniker.
“You think Gilroy vs. Christopher—a rivalry—but we’re our own worst enemy,” Estorga said. “Gilroy vs. Gilroy. It wasn’t even about Christopher. We just can’t do anything right, right now.
“We never give up—we always work hard—but when we give up 10 or 12 possessions on turnovers against a good team that plays well at home, it’s going to be tough for us.”
The full court press and the half court trap defenses proves especially effective in the second quarter as Christopher put up 23 points in the frame.
Chad Hartman led the charge with 14 points in the quarter on his way to 26 for the game in three quarters of play.
Christopher had nine players score at least a basket in the game, including two in double figures. Dillon Day finished with 12 points, all coming in the first half.
That allowed Christopher’s bench to see many quality minutes.
“They work hard every day and they should get just as much as we (the starters) do,” Bowers said. “It feels good to see them play like we do.”
Gilroy, meanwhile, was not without opportunities.
“They could have just packed up and said forget about it and lost by 80 points or something. That’s not our type of guys. We have guys who will push through no matter what,” Estorga said.
Michael Kropff led the Mustangs with 10 points and Kevin Azcuetta added eight of his own, but those efforts couldn’t make up for quality looks that just didn’t fall.
Kropff had seven first half rebounds to help set up shots for his teammates, but Gilroy was held to four field goals in the first half.
The lone exception was the third quarter, when Kropff and Azcuetta each hit a pair of 3-pointers to lead a 19-point surge.
But scoring just 14 for the rest of the game, it left Estorga feeling like his team made things harder on itself.
“Our guys at this point in the season, they’re a little fatigued and it’s showing,” Estorga said. “Mentally, we just didn’t have it. We probably haven’t shot that poorly all season; we just beat ourselves. … A late Christmas gift from us to them.”
In the third quarter, Gilroy started to make things interesting as Christopher began to pull its starters.
The Mustangs forced the Cougars into seven turnovers—one more than Christopher had for the rest of the game—and cut the 30-point deficit down to three with a chance to make things respectable in the fourth quarter.
But Gilroy was held to four points on one field goal and two of four from the line.
Gilroy will have very little chance to reflect on the loss as the Mustangs must turn around to play Branham 7 p.m. Saturday at home.
“A back-to-back after a big game like this, funny enough, our guys usually respond pretty well, but it doesn’t help. You can’t get tonight back,” Estorga said. “It’s going to be a tough night for our guys going to sleep knowing we handed it to them like that.”
Christopher, meanwhile, will hit the road against Monte Vista Christian 7 p.m. Jan. 7 to kick off Gabilan Division play.
Mooney formally coached at Monte Vista and he said he is looking forward to playing his former team.
“I know what they can do. It’s going to be a tough night. But a game like that could go either way,” Mooney said. “They (Monte Vista) could play over their heads or it could be a mess.”
