Roundup: Golden Valley boys remain unbeaten in the CCC. Merced holds off Atwater.
The Golden Valley High boys basketball team tightened its grip on a second straight Central California Conference championship with a big road win at Buhach Colony on Friday night.
The Cougars (13-5 overall, 4-0 CCC) defeated Buhach Colony 62-41 after outscoring the Thunder 31 to 14 in the second half.
“In the second half we had some good traps, we got some scores in transition,” said Golden Valley coach Keith Hunter. “A big key to the game was Christian Magallanes. He was able to space the floor and knock down a couple threes. He was able to score inside.”
Magallanes scored a career-high 22 points.
He was tough matchup for Buhach Colony big man Gerald Braxton.
Magallanes pulled the 6-foot-6 Braxton away from the basket with his ability to score from outside. That also opened him up to drive to the basket.
“A lot of it just came from running the court,” Magallanes said. “Ten of those points probably came from sprinting down court. I know they don’t like to get back on defense.”
The Cougars came out on fire, hitting four 3-pointers in the first quarter. Joe Sanchez, Avery Townsel, Anthony Mendez and Preston Castleton drained 3-pointers in the first quarter to give the Cougars a 21-13 lead.
The Thunder fought back in the second quarter as Braxton and Jake Sapien hurt the Cougars on some high-low plays with each taking turns passing from the top of the key down in the paint for easy baskets.
Braxton led the Thunder (9-10, 2-2 CCC) with 13 points and Sapien finished with eight points.
Buhach Colony pulled to within 31-27 at the half.
“They hurt us in the second quarter,” Hunter said. “They got to the foul line. Their high-lows were hurting us. We missed some assignments.”
However, it was all Cougars in the second half.
Anthony Mendez and Avery Townsel both scored nine points for Golden Valley.
Merced 61, Atwater 59 in Merced — The Bears squeaked out a win over the Falcons despite a 36-point effort from Atwater star Robert Smid.
Kortez Tyler helped Merced (10-11, 2-2 CCC) hold off Atwater with nine of his team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter. Tyler made all eight of his free-throw attempts.
Boys Soccer
El Capitan 3, Central Valley 2 in Ceres — Diego Hernandez scored all three goals as the Gauchos upset Central Valley on the road. Agustin Gutierrez and Jesus Yepez scored goals for the Hawks (3-1-2 CCC).
Fernando Abarca had five saves for El Capitan (2-2-1 CCC).
Golden Valley 4, Atwater 0 in Atwater — Carlos Morales scored all four goals for the Cougars (2-2-1 CCC) in a win over the Falcons. Jose Rodriguez, David Ledesma and AJ Gonzalez all recorded assists for GV and Andres Sanchez picked up six saves in goal.
Matthew Brewer had four saves for the Falcons, who dropped to 2-3 in the CCC.
Girls Basketball
Millennium 47, Stone Ridge Christian 30 in Tracy — The Knights suffered their first Central California Athletic Alliance loss on the road. Mia Rodriguez scored 10 points to lead SRC (13-4, 2-1 CCAA).
This story was originally published January 17, 2020 at 10:48 PM.
