El Capitan uses big fourth-quarter run to keep CCC championship hopes alive.
After watching his team struggle through a third quarter that saw his team only score four points and watch a nine-point lead evaporate, El Capitan High boys basketball coach Adrian Hurtado felt his kids needed a reminder.
Before the start of the fourth quarter, Hurtado wrote “CCC is on the line” on his white board in front of the bench.
“I saw our guys start nodding and they understood,” Hurtado said. “It was time to wake up.”
The Gauchos responded with a 17-0 run to start the fourth quarter to keep their Central California Conference championship hopes alive with a 56-41 win over Buhach Colony at the Thunder Dome on Wednesday night.
“It was a scary quarter,” Hurtado joked afterward.
It was a scary game for the Gauchos coming off an emotional 44-41 win over Golden Valley that pulled El Capitan (14-10, 7-1 CCC) even with the Cougars atop the conference standings with five games left in the season.
Wednesday’s trip to Buhach Colony easily could have been a letdown game and Hurtado knew it.
“We practiced for two and half hours (on Tuesday night),” Hurtado said. “We made sure to go late. We made sure all our coaches were there. We watched film. The only way to approach these last games (was) to over prepare with a championship on the line.”
The Gauchos defense was focused on Buhach Colony big man Gerald Braxton. The Gauchos always had a help defender close by ready to double team high. They fronted him and made sure he didn’t get the ball where he likes it in the paint, as they held Braxton to just eight points and eight rebounds.
The Gauchos came out on fire, outscoring the Thunder (11-12, 4-4 CCC) 19 to 5 in the first quarter.
However, the brutal third quarter pulled BC even at 34-34 heading into the fourth.
El Capitan’s Brody Collins and Joe Serena hit back-to-back 3-pointers to start the final quarter and the Gauchos were off and running. El Capitan built a 51-34 lead before Oscar Smallwood finally ended the Thunder drought with a 3-pointer with 1:23 left in the game.
Serena led El Capitan with 15 points. Dillon Greenwood and Collins added 11 points and Dishawn McCutchen scored 10 for the Gauchos.
Jugnishan Johal and Smallwood both finished with eight points for Buhach Colony.
Golden Valley 74, Patterson 58 in Merced — Aurrion Harris poured in 23 points as the Cougars rebounded from Monday’s loss to El Capitan with a win over the Tigers.
Anthony Mendez added 15 points for the Cougars (17-6, 7-1 CCC).
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 9:56 PM.
