If you don’t count the third quarter, the Sobrato boys basketball team narrowly edged out Evergreen Valley by two points.
However, the Bulldogs can’t take back the third quarter that killed their momentum from the first half and sent the Cougars to a 60-52 win Friday night on Sobrato’s Homecoming.
“We just have inconsistencies sometimes, and there’s things that we knew that they were looking to do and we didn’t react too well to it,” said coach Lee Washington. “We talked a lot about it at half time, but sometimes we weren’t engaged in the moment and I think we got caught up not really executing the game plan too much.”
Sobrato had outscored Evergreen 45-43 when you exclude the third quarter. The Cougars won the third by 10, which proved to be the difference.
The Bulldogs were held to seven points, unable to capitalize on six Evergreen turnovers.
It was the opposite in the first half, where Sobrato were on the short end of an 11-4 run to start the game when the transition game brought the Bulldogs back into the game.
Freshman Jason Rhoads hit a pair of 3s and had 10 points in the first quarter to pull Sobrato to within one at the period’s close.
“He’s a great spark. His first game was against Gunderson. He played really well. Seven points last game, you know, he’s fearless,” Washington said. “As long as he plays with toughness and energy, we’ll put him on the floor.”
Rhoads finished with 12 points and five rebounds.
Kristian Maldia picked up the flag in the second quarter, getting five points on breakaways to help spark a 17-point frame and give Sobrato a 32-31 lead going into the break.
Maldia led the team with 14 points, including a big three-point play in the second quarter, giving Sobrato a three-point lead late in the period.
After the third quarter put the Bulldogs down by nine, Washington tried to spark a comeback by switching Max Mosgrove and Tola Mov for Luke Walton and Joe Halla at each change of possession.
“You try to lengthen the game, try to extend the game, you play with what ever line up is working right now. You just coach on a feeling,” Washington said. “Whatever guys we have in the game, maybe we’re getting into a large deficit, we had some guys come off the bench and they started doing well.”
Mov garnered praise from his coach after the game for his second half effort. At the close of the first half, he committed an unfortunate turnover that allowed Evergreen to pull within one at the break.
Washington talked to Mov before going into the break room and the junior responded with solid defense in the second half.
“I told him he would have another opportunity and when he had that opportunity to not let it slip through his fingers. He did a great job on defense, really working his heart out.”
But despite their collective efforts, the dramatic comeback just wasn’t in the cards.
The Bulldogs couldn’t get closer than seven in the game.
Sobrato has two more games left, including its final home game of the regular season 7 p.m. Wednesday against Pioneer. The Bulldogs will close the regular season at Live Oak next Friday.
