San Francisco height too much for Gav in 71-51 loss
Gavilan College stayed with visiting City College of San Francisco for the first half Tuesday, but was unable to gain any momentum in the second half against a much taller, more physical team.
The 71-51 loss dropped the Rams (5-5) to .500 for the first time this season. After starting off 4-1, Gavilan went 1-2 in the Monterey Peninsula College tournament over the weekend, defeating Sierra College before losing to Solano College and Santa Barbara City College. Gavilan has lost its last three games after failing to score 60 points in each.
“We played like we have been practicing for the last week,” said coach Chris Shoemaker. “We have been going hard for 40 or 50 percent of the time. Honestly, we didn’t put ourselves in a position to where we could win or even compete in this game. I take full responsibility for that. I assured my guys that it would change starting tomorrow.”
Although CCSF was a more physical team and had more depth, Shoemaker said he didn’t want to use that as an excuse.
“Most of the people we play will be bigger, quicker and will jump higher,” Shoemaker said. “We have to find a way to compete. And the only way to do that is to give a maximum effort on a daily basis. We’re standing around too much on offense and not moving the ball enough.”
CCSF assistant coach Tom McNichol said he had not planned on taking the home team lightly after Gavilan defeated Monterey and CCSF lost to Monterey.
“We haven’t been playing well recently,” said McNichol, whose CCSF Rams are 3-4. “I didn’t think Gavilan played as well as they did against Monterey. They weren’t hitting outside, and we were pressuring them on defense.”
Gavilan tied the score as the second half started with back-to-back buckets down low from Adrian Zamora and Jon Morrison. But the local Rams never could recapture the lead.
With 12:50 left down 37-35, Gavilan did have a chance to take the lead or tie but missed a 3-pointer and an inbounds play at the baseline.
From there, it was all San Francisco, which begin picking apart the Gavilan defense with its speed and height.
Over the next five minutes, CCSF went on a 13-2 run before Gavilan started subbing in. The highlight of the run was a two-handed dunk by San Francisco’s Mark Alsup.
“When you play a team that is as athletic as San Francisco, you just can’t give them those opportunities,” Shoemaker said. “We went on a three- or four-minute stretch where we didn’t get any good shots.”
In the first half, Gavilan had almost no answer for 6-foot-9 center Lex James, who had 11 of his 13 points in the half. He sat out most of the second half to let an injury heal. Harry Brown also had 13 points to tie for the game-high scoring.
Despite being down by as many as 11 points in the first half, Gavilan rallied back shortly before the half.
Bobby Marani hit a pull-up three pointer after his defender stumbled with three seconds left before the half to get the Rams within four points.
The only other 3-pointer in the game was by Adrian Zamora to start the game and give the Rams their largest lead of the contest.
“We just didn’t do what we practiced,” Marani said. “We got a young team, so we’ll have to be more focused. We got a good team with good guys and coaches, so I think we will be OK.”
Curtis Lilly, who was playing his first game back from his punting duties with the Gavilan football team that went to the Clo Bowl, was one of the three players who led the Rams with 11 points.
He had several nice cuts to the basket, but he said he could fill the affect of the lack of practice.
“I had no legs. I’m definitely not in basketball shape yet, but it shouldn’t take long,” said Lilly, who is the only out-of-state player. “They have a good team. They can jump, but that is no excuse. We need to have someone step up. Once we come together and figure out our roles, we will do well.”
Gavilan is at Redwood City to play Canada College Friday. The Rams don’t play their next home game until Jan. 12.
Gavilan 23 28––51
San Francisco 27 44––71
Gavilan: Sondroth 0 0-0 0, Avila 1 1-2 3, Morrison 5 1-1 11, Wells 1 0-0 2, Alsup 0 0-0 0, McLeod 0 1-2 1, Lilly 4 3-5 11, Colman 0 0-0 0, Zamora 4 2-2 11, Hayes 1 1-2 3, Marani 4 0-0 9.
San Francisco: Turner 3 0-0 6, Hunt 1 0-1 2, Count 3 4-4 10, Robinson 1 1-2 3, Brown 6 1-1 13, Moore 4 2-4 10, Kamara 5 0-1 10, Von Tellrup 2 0-0 4, Davis 0 0-2 0, James 5 3-3 13.
3-pointers (G) Zamora, Marani
