The Bulldogs took another step toward a possible postseason
berth with an 81-61 trouncing over Andrew Hill
SAN JOSE — The latest Biggest Game of the Season turned out to be even bigger.
The Sobrato boy’s basketball team, fresh off its road victory over first-place Willow Glen, did just fine taking Tuesday’s pivotal matchup with Andrew Hill at face value. But while the Bulldogs were outhustling, outmuscling and overwhelming the Falcons, 81-61, at Andrew Hill High School, the Silver Creek Raiders were making noise on the other side of town — mounting an upset that could lead to another banner in Sobrato Gym.
That Silver Creek bushwhacked Willow Glen 63-57 means the Bulldogs will play for at least a share of the Blossom Valley Athletic League-Santa Teresa Division championship Friday when they host Independence in their final regular-season game.
“It’s like a single-elimination tournament right now,” Sobrato coach Lawrence Crawford said. “And we cannot afford to play less than our best. We can’t afford not play our hardest.”
Friday’s 8 p.m. showdown in Sobrato Gym already was seismic enough. The Bulldogs and Independence were set to play for second place — and, likely, an at-large spot in the CIF-Central Coast Section playoffs — with Willow Glen grabbing the division’s lone automatic berth as the champion. Instead, Sobrato, Independence and Willow Glen are knotted at 10-3 in league play. The three front-runners have 20 wins overall.
Nothing is for certain, but it can be assumed the loser of the Sobrato-Independence game will miss the postseason. The Rams should advance, pending they don’t falter versus last-place Mount Pleasant.
Again, nothing is for certain.
If Willow Glen loses, the divsion will probably advance only the Independence-Sobrato winner. Independence won the previous meeting 64-55 Jan. 27 in San Jose.
“The division is extremely competitive,” said Andrew Hill coach Greg Dunlap, whose team entered Tuesday’s game tied with the Bulldogs and Independence. “Before the season, I picked Sobrato to win it this year; them or Independence.”
The Bulldogs looked a cut above as they sprinted away to their sixth consecutive victory and 20th of the season. It was enough to make their three-game slide in January, which included a three-point loss to the Falcons, seem like a fading afterthought.
“It feels great right now,” said Ryan Williams, a 6-foot-3 junior forward. “We’re on a big winning streak. Finishing the season strong feels great.”
Williams scored a game-high 29 points on 11-for-13 shooting, and Chris Bradley added 14 points and 15 rebounds.
“Ryan was huge tonight,” Crawford said. “He just has a way of turning things around when the other team seizes momentum. He’s such a smart, smart player.
“Now Chris, Chris was big on rebounds. We needed those.”
Charley Bynum and Bryan Bradley joined them in double figures with 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Bulldogs (20-5 overall, 10-3 BVAL), who never trailed. Bryan Bradley dished six assists to go with five steals, and Sobrato co-captain Rauley Cambra netted six points in the final five minutes.
Andrew Hill got 19 points, seven rebounds and four steals from Viet Tran and 18 points from Hai Nguyen. Ugo Kas-Osoka chipped in 11 points for the Falcons (12-11, 9-4).
The Bulldogs led by as many as 20 points in the third quarter before Andrew Hill made it respectable in the fourth.
“We were ready,” said Chris Bradley, a junior guard. “We’re ready for the playoffs. We still have Independence. … It’s going to be a big game.
“We had a lot of nerves going into this one. We realized a while back we had to run the table to get a seed in the postseason. We’ve been practicing a lot harder; just doing our best.”
Creating turnovers with full-court press, the Falcons pulled within 13 at 63-50 with 5:35 remaining. But Sobrato protected the ball the rest of the way and was back ahead by 19 after Williams completed a three-point play, and Cambra added two free throws. The Bulldogs scored seven of their final 11 points from the line.
“It was okay to get nervous when they came back. That helped us stay focused,” Crawford said. “We had most of the important stuff tonight. Our transition defense could have used some help because they beat us down the floor a lot. But it didn’t hurt because we made a whole lot of buckets.”
Sobrato set the tone in the first quarter when it outscored the Falcons 23-7. Bynum poured in 10 points during the period while shooting 5 for 6.
Andrew Hill came alive in the second quarter, but could not slow the Bulldogs’ attack. After Nguyen’s layup with 3:28 left pulled the Falcons within 33-22, Sobrato answered with a deep 3-pointer by Bryan Bradley, sparking an 8-2 scoring run. Tran sank a trey at the buzzer to make it 41-27 at halftime.
“We needed to cause more turnovers and make a few more shots — basically, play with more heart,” Dunlap said. “I’m very disappointed. We came out flat and got beaten bad on our home court.”
Williams reeled off 11 points in the third quarter, as the Bulldogs pressed on. Bryan Bradley nailed a short jumper to give Sobrato its biggest lead — 59-39 — with 1:54 left in the period. Before that, Bryan Bradley leapt for a rebound and, in midair, threw the ball across court to Williams for a quick layup.
“We played great defense and that turned into points,” Williams said.
Tim Cavanaugh’s putback as time expired pushed Sobrato ahead 61-44 going into the fourth quarter.
