Gavilan College men
’s basketball coach Chris Shoemaker didn’t mince words when
asked to describe his team’s 72-54 loss at Monterey Peninsula
College Friday night. “We were horrible,” he said with a sigh.
“That’s the best way to describe it. We came out with no energy
whatsoever.” The Rams, who were led
by Broc Sondgroth (12 points) and Scott McLeod (10 points),
simply looked nothing like they did in November, when they beat MPC
in the teams’ first meeting.
Gavilan College men’s basketball coach Chris Shoemaker didn’t mince words when asked to describe his team’s 72-54 loss at Monterey Peninsula College Friday night.
“We were horrible,” he said with a sigh. “That’s the best way to describe it. We came out with no energy whatsoever.”
The Rams, who were led by Broc Sondgroth (12 points) and Scott McLeod (10 points), simply looked nothing like they did in November, when they beat MPC in the teams’ first meeting.
“The difference was the energy level,” Shoemaker said. “The first time, we played the entire 40 minutes and gave it the max effort.
“Tonight we just looked drained. And we’re not good enough to beat anybody when we play that way.
“We can’t afford to have another one of those.”
Shoemaker said his players, who found themselves down 43-21 by halftime, might have still been feeling the effects of an inspired effort during Wednesday’s 88-80 overtime loss to an athletic San Jose City College team.
“But there are definitely no excuses,” he quickly added. “We have to be ready to play at all times.”
Suffice to say, the Rams (8-9 overall, 0-2 league) will be ready to play Wednesday when they host rival Hartnell at 7:30pm.
“We’ll get in some good practices and we’ll be much better,” Shoemaker said.
“The guys will play well next week – there’s no doubt in my mind.”
Earlier in the week, Gavilan opened up its conference schedule against San Jose City – the top defensive team in the state – and nearly pulled off an upset over the Tigers, who have just one loss this season.
The Rams had a 10-point lead with under four minutes left in the second half, but San Jose City’s Tristen King drained three 3-pointers in the final three minutes to propel the Jaguars to an 88-80 victory in overtime.
Shoemaker was happy with his team’s effort on that night.
“I am proud of the guys and the effort they gave,” he said. “It’s not that we enjoy losing. When we were up by ten, we had a chance to put them away. Against a team like this, you got to take the spirit out of them when you can.”
Several Gavilan players stepped up with solid games. Sondgroth scored all nine of his points in the first half with three 3-pointers to help the Rams tie the score at 39-39 going into the locker room.
“Not only did he give us some key baskets, but he ran our offense really well,” Shoemaker said.
Curtis Lilly, who joined the team late after the football season, had 20 points, including several nice cuts, fakes and finishes.
“It was a breakout game for him,” Shoemaker said.
Gavilan’s big man, 6-7 Adrian Zamora, of Watsonville High, had a big game. The Watsonville High product led all scorers with 27 points and had a solid effort under the net to nab rebounds.
“They were hitting everything. They didn’t miss,” Zamora said. “This was our game. We should have won.”
San Jose City coach Percy Carr said his team didn’t look like it was leading the state in the least points allowed. But he knew that his team had a chance because of the way it has overcome big deficits all year.
“We just didn’t play good defense at all,” said Carr, whose team is 15-1. “Gavilan played very very good. They executed well. Everything they ran worked. They moved the ball, and they found the open man.”
The game remained tight in the first half before Gavilan put together a run in the second.
San Jose City’s Jamal Harris had a two handed dunk two minutes into the second half to put the Jaguars up 43-39. But the momentum was short for San Jose City, who was forced to call a couple timeouts shortly after because of the Gavilan pressure.
Gavilan took a 48-47 lead seven minutes into the second half. And it wasn’t until halfway through the overtime period when San Jose City could regain the lead.
With five seconds left in regulation, Sondgroth had a chance for a game-winning shot. But his pull-up jumper fell just short.
Staff writer Nathan Mixter contributed to this story.
