With Sobrato well ahead in the third quarter—leading 32-17—Luke Walton pulled down a rebound and looked up the floor.
He saw Jason Rhoads streaking up the far sideline and hit him in stride with a perfect pass.
Rhoads hit a contested layup and threw his arm up in the air as he jogged down to the defensive end of the court.
Live Oak called timeout, but the damage had been done. The ruckus crowd—already up for the rivalry game—got loud and Sobrato was just getting going.
“I’ve said before, defense leads to a fun time,” said Sobrato coach Sean Tate. “If we can play good D and if you block out, as soon as we have the ball, we turn and go. Guys just like in practice, if there is a man out in front of you, give up the ball and in the last couple of games, they’ve done an excellent job of out letting.”
The Bulldogs put up 20 points in the quarter and went on to win 60-42 behind Rhoads’ 20 points.
Sobrato is now in sole possession of first place of the South Division after knocking off Santa Teresa 72-63 on Tuesday.
Sobrato stands at 6-1 in South Division play and 13-4 overall.
Live Oak, meanwhile falls to 5-11 overall and 2-4 in league play.
On Friday, the third quarter sealed the win for Sobrato, but it was the second quarter that tipped the scales strongly for the Bulldogs.
Live Oak had led 11-10 after the first quarter thanks to balanced shooting from Brenden White and Jaime Martinez—each shooting four points.
Rhoads kept Sobrato afloat with eight of the team’s 10 points. But that all flipped in the second as Live Oak’s shot went cold.
Sobrato went on an 11-0 run through the first 6:27 of the game before White broke the streak with a free throw.
That proved to be the only Acorn point for the quarter as Sobrato out-shot its rivals 14-1 going into the half.
Live Oak coach Jeff Yeung said it came down to rebounding. The Bulldogs out-rebounded the Acorns 30-25 for the night, but Yeung said it was timely rebounds on both ends of the floor that was the difference.
“They killed us on the boards tonight, that’s really what it comes down to” Yeung said. “That’s really the difference in the ball game, they killed on the boards on both ends. They get a rebound on the offensive end and put it back in and on the defensive end they get a rebound and go out and push. That’s what
undid us.”
Yeung said his defense did a good job when Sobrato was in a half court set, but the team got in trouble in transition
Tate said he didn’t realize until after the game that Live Oak had been held to a single point. He said his biggest point of emphasis was making sure his boys kept the pressure on the Acorns because in a rivalry game it is easy to have things go sideways fast.
And after being down a point following the first quarter, Tate said he made sure his team regained its focus and came out strong in the second.
“I wrote on the board ‘weather the storm.’ Once you weather the storm and you get back into the game, you guys are going to be fine,” Tate said.
The 12-point lead ballooned into a 19-point margin going into the fourth quarter thanks in large part to not just Rhoads but the entire team’s free throw shooting.
Sobrato was a perfect 10-10 from the line, going 17-24 for the game.
Live Oak, meanwhile, went 8-16 for the game.
The Bulldogs had double-digit scoring from Kenzeddie Williams (16) and Walton (12), who uncharacteristically didn’t hit a 3-pointer for the game.
“There’s just so many weapons on this team,” Tate said. “Everybody helped everybody. We’ve got guys on this bench come off and play. We’re deeper than I first thought. … Even having Luke struggling, there’s just so many guys who know there’s an opportunity to step up and if they play good D, the opportunity is there.”
Walton led the team with nine rebounds followed by Rhoads with seven.
For Live Oak, Garrett Cardona led with nine points with White, Eric Payne and Joe Goble hitting eight. Payne led the team with nine rebounds, followed by Martinez with six.
The Acorns fought back int he fourth quarter hitting four 3-pointers, with Cardona and Goble both hitting two.
Sobrato travels to Oak Grove Thursday at 7 while Live Oak travels to Santa Teresa
