After calling his team out following a lackluster performance
earlier in the week, Gavilan College men
’s basketball coach Chris Shoemaker watched with satisfaction as
his team responded with a solid defensive effort at Canada on
Friday night. The Rams (6-5 overall) erased a nine-point halftime
deficit by holding the Colts to 19 points in the second half
enroute to a 69-61 victory.
After calling his team out following a lackluster performance earlier in the week, Gavilan College men’s basketball coach Chris Shoemaker watched with satisfaction as his team responded with a solid defensive effort at Canada on Friday night.
The Rams (6-5 overall) erased a nine-point halftime deficit by holding the Colts to 19 points in the second half enroute to a 69-61 victory.
“The thing I was most pleased with was we had two great days of practice last week and that allowed us to have a good game,” Shoemaker said less than a week after questioning his team’s effort in a 71-51 loss to visiting City College of San Francisco last Tuesday. “To hold them to 19 points in the second half, and one of their baskets was a desperation 3-pointer off the backboard, is impressive.”
“I was very impressed with our play in the second half,” Shoemaker continued. “Honestly, we didn’t play that well in the first half but in the second half we played as well as we have all year.”
Key to the second-half surge was 6-foot-8 freshman center Adrian Zamora, out of Watsonville High, who was everywhere for the Rams at both ends of the floor.
“He took over the game in the second half,” Shoemaker said. “On offense, he demanded the ball and scored the first six points of the second half for us. On defense, he blocked shots, got key rebounds and even took a charge. It was nice to see.”
Shoemaker said Zamora scored all of his team-high 15 points in the second half.
The victory comes at an opportune time for the Gavilan team, which is heading into a challenging stretch of games before the Christmas holiday.
On Wednesday night, the Rams travel to Fremon to play Ohlone at 7pm, then begin play in the Chabot College Tournament in Hayward the following week.
Gavilan is scheduled to open tourney play against Foothill on Tuesday, Dec. 21.
After the Christmas break, the Rams open Coast Conference South Division play against preseason favorite San Jose Coity College in San Jose on Jan. 5.
