Golden Valley, El Capitan both earn piece of CCC championship. Playoffs are next
Nathaniel Diolazo scored to give the Merced High boys basketball a 2-0 lead about 10 seconds into the game against Golden Valley.
It was literally all Cougars for the next 6 minutes.
Golden Valley responded with a 26-0 run and cruised to a 74-43 win over the Bears on Friday night at Cougar Arena. The win clinched a piece of the Central California Conference championship.
The Cougars (22-6 overall, 11-1) CCC finished the regular season tied atop the conference standings with El Capitan, which defeated Central Valley 48-40 on Friday night.
With Golden Valley and El Capitan splitting their two games this season a coin toss was held earlier on Friday. Gauchos athletic director Rodd Parker called tails and CCC commissioner Vince Clemons’ coin toss came up heads, giving Golden Valley the top seed from the CCC for the playoffs.
The Cougars hope to bottle up their first-quarter performance against the Bears in the postseason.
“We came out with high energy,” said GV assistant coach Derrick Jacobs. “We’ve been preaching that since after the Atwater game (on Wednesday). We have to do what we do and play how we play.”
Senior Aurrion Harris scored nine of his game-high 19 points in the first quarter. Christian Magallanes added seven of his 12 points in the opening quarter as the Cougars opened up a 29-8 lead.
“We had energy from the crowd and we had energy from our team,” Harris said. “We brought everything. Last game against Atwater we didn’t hustle like that. This was our last CCC game, we had to go hard.”
Anthony Mendez added 12 points for Golden Valley.
Jadin Loy led the Bears (10-18, 3-9 CCC) with 15 points.
It’s the Cougars eighth CCC championship in school history and second straight title.
“We got a piece and that means a lot,” Harris said. “It would have been better if we took it by ourselves.”
Next up for the Cougars is the playoffs next week. Golden Valley will open up at home on Wednesday against an opponent that will be announced on Saturday evening.
“The teams we will face in the playoffs won’t be like the teams we faced in league,” Harris aid. “They’re looking to knock us off. We’ve got to work hard in practice.”
Golden Valley has lost to Manteca and Beyer in the first round the past two years and hasn’t reached the second round of the playoffs since 2014.
“It’s been one and done the last 3 years and we need to change that no matter who they give us,” Jacobs said. “We don’t fear anybody. We have to come out and play our game.”
El Capitan 48, Central Valley 40 in Merced — The Gauchos earned a share of their second CCC championship in the past four years with a win over the Hawks.
Dillon Greenwood led the way with 21 points and Brody Collins added 18 for El Capitan (18-10, 11-1 CCC).
The Gauchos closed the regular season with 11 consecutive wins.
Buhach Colony 71, Atwater 59 in Atwater — Geraldo Braxton turned in a strong performance with 33 points as the Thunder finished the regular season with a 13-15 record overall and 6-6 in the CCC.
Oscar Smallwood added 10 points.
The Thunder finished in third place in the CCC to clinch a playoff spot.
This story was originally published February 14, 2020 at 11:16 PM.