Gavilan College men’s basketball team’s aspirations of upsetting
first-place San Jose City College quickly unraveled in a 92-60
defeat in Coast Conference South action Friday night in Gilroy
GILROY — Five minutes. That’s all it took.
In those brief scoreless minutes, the Gavilan College men’s basketball team’s aspirations of upsetting first-place San Jose City College quickly unraveled in a 92-60 defeat in Coast Conference South action Friday night in Gilroy.
Freshman Jordan Ramirez connected on a mid-range jumper to bring the Rams to within five, 27-22, at the 6:35 mark of the first half. However, that was the last basket until Ramirez registered his fifth bucket of the half with 1:30 remaining before the break.
In that brief five-minute span, the visiting Jaguars received four 3-pointers from Neel Narayan and proceeded to embark on a 20-4 run to close out the first half, leaving the Rams reeling from the onslaught.
Compounding the situation was the Rams’ inefficiency on offense and untimely turnovers as a result of the Jaguars’ press defense.
“It’s only difficult if you let it be difficult,” Ramirez said of the Jaguars defense. “If you stay focused and make safe passes and don’t try to force it, it’s broken real simple. We made it look difficult.”
The Jaguars forced 18 Rams’ turnovers in the first half, crippling any effort the Rams put forth on offense.
“I told the guys that if we have to play eight guys or less, we are going to be in trouble because (San Jose) is so talented and so deep,” Rams head coach Tito Addison said. “We had a week to prepare for this. We were in and out of passing drills against the press. I mean, that press is going to give four-year schools problems.
“We didn’t have guys step up today. We had to play guys longer minutes and they were exhausted. Some of those passes were out of fatigue, but some of the guys aren’t in the pace of the game right now.”
Ramirez, an Alisal High grad, led the Rams with 17 points on 7 of 14 shooting and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line. Another freshman, Elliot Lawson, poured in 14 points, including 12 in the second half. The 6-foot-2 guard made good on his final four shots, dropping in two 3-pointers in the process.
“In the second half I played all freshmen,” Addison said. “We need something to build on for next year. (Ramirez’s) spirit has been tremendous for this basketball team. That is how we want to play. That is what we are about.”
The Rams committed only seven turnovers in an all-around better second half, but the commanding 21-point deficit the Jaguars held over the home team was too much to make up.
“These are fragile young men,” Addison said. “For us to play well, things have to go well. We are a team that predicates our whole game on the jump shot. If our jump shot isn’t falling, they aren’t following. If it is, we have beaten ranked teams.”
The Rams only mustered 53 shots on offense while the Jaguars amassed 66 attempts from the floor. However, after shooting 35 percent in the first half, the Rams hit 59 percent in the second.
Gavilan (6-15, 1-6) travels to face Hartnell on Wednesday. The Rams dropped a difficult 75-68 decision the last time the two teams met.
