San Francisco
– The Sobrato boys basketball team’s dream season came to an
abrupt end Saturday night as it was dominated from start to finish
by St. Ignatius 64-36 in the second round of the Central Coast
Section playoffs on the Wildcats’ home court.
By John Power Special to the Times
San Francisco – The Sobrato boys basketball team’s dream season came to an abrupt end Saturday night as it was dominated from start to finish by St. Ignatius 64-36 in the second round of the Central Coast Section playoffs on the Wildcats’ home court.
Bulldogs head coach Lawrence Crawford said it was a tough loss since he personally doesn’t like to lose.
“The unfortunate part is that losing is a part of life, the thing is do you learn from your losses,” he said. “I think the experience of playing against a team like the one we faced tonight is a good experience. We got a taste of what it is all about. We were able to come in here and get a taste of the competition at a different level.”
Crawford said the Wildcats (21-7) had a lot of good players, so by playing against them his team now knows what they need to do to be more competitive next year.
“So now we know what we need to bring and how we need to be prepared,” he said.
The main advantages St. Ignatius had over the Bulldogs (20-8) were size and height, as the Wildcats were able to outmuscle Sobrato for rebounds and shots.
This was as far as the Bulldogs have ever gone in their four-year history, which Crawford was proud of. As he looks toward the future, he hopes this year’s juniors will be able to play on a higher level next year.
Crawford said a lot of times the junior or sophomore players take a back seat to the seniors, even though they’re very good, but they don’t play up to their potential because of the role of the seniors.
Next year’s team looks promising to Crawford, as the Bulldogs will only lose four players from this year’s squad.
He said the team will have many bigger-sized players coming back along with a good collection of guards such as Joe Anouye and Kody Billerback.
Crawford said he was looking forward to getting ready for next season as the returning players will be starting off-season training and conditioning in the next two weeks. Many of the players will participate in summer leagues and a defensive camp, which is run by the school.
According to Crawford, to fully compete with teams like the Wildcats, they need more players committed to these off-season programs. He said the players that do participate are usually the ones that are the strongest and the most ready to play.
“The more kids that we can get to buy into our program, the more prepared we will be to compete against teams like this,” he said.
