Roundup: After milestone win, Golden Valley’s Hunter talks about future.
The Golden Valley High boys basketball team left little doubt in Wednesday night’s outcome against Atwater.
The Cougars were off and running, jumping out to a 33-point lead by the end of the first half. The game ended with a running clock in the fourth quarter as Golden Valley finished off a 71-35 victory.
The win gave Cougars coach Keith Hunter his 450th career victory.
“I don’t keep track of that stuff,” Hunter said. “What it means to me is we’ve been very competitive. We come to play, we work hard and what I take tremendous pride in as how many times we’ve made the playoffs over the years.”
The Cougars (15-5 overall, 5-0 Central California Conference) have made the playoffs 20 times in Hunter’s 24 years as coach. They seem well on their way to make it for the 21st time this season as they try to win their eighth CCC championship.
“I know we’ve finished second quite a few times,” Hunter said. “I feel like Jack Nicklaus with how many times we finished second, but that means we’re battling.”
Hunter’s off-the-court issues have been very public the last two years after admitting to sexual harassing a co-worker in January of 2017.
On the court, he’s currently working his way through his 25th season as the only boys basketball coach since the school opened in 1994.
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His assistant coach Jerry Stillahn has been with him for 24 of the 25 years.
“He’s an amazing coach,” senior Aurrion Harris said of Hunter. “He coaches us really hard. That hard work pays off.”
Harris scored 14 of his game-high 18 points in the first half. Anthony Mendez added 15 points and Christian Magallanes scored 10 for Golden Valley.
Hunter has compiled a 450-264 record during his time at Golden Valley.
Hunter said he’s not sure when he’ll walk away. That’s a decision he’ll make with his family when the time comes.
“I have to think about it after this year,” Hunter said. “I’m year to year. It takes a tremendous amount of passion and enthusiasm to do this I’ve been lucky to have some great people help me over the years.”
Those are decisions for later.
Next up for Golden Valley is a crosstown rivalry game at Merced High on Friday.
“Friday is going to be very fun,” Harris said. “We’re coming to come out and play hard like we usually do. We want to play ball as a team.”
Buhach Colony 67, Central Valley 50 in Atwater — Gerald Braxton finished with 22 points and six rebounds as the Thunder (10-11, 3-2 CCC) defeated the Hawks.
Jake Sapien added 12 points and five rebounds for Buhach Colony, which travels to Atwater High on Friday.
Girls Soccer
El Capitan 5, Central Valley 1 in Merced — The Gauchos broke open a tie game at the half with four second-half goals. Anaya Shelton scored two goals for the Gauchos (5-0-1 CCC). Haley Espinoza, Marcella Ramirez and Cassidy Spiva all added goals for El Capitan.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 1:28 PM.
