Second-half comeback fuels Golden Valley, advance to semis for first time since 2009
Christian Magallanes scored 13 of his 23 points and Aurrion Harris grabbed 10 of his 18 rebounds in the final quarter as the Golden Valley High boys basketball team finished strong in a 66-57 victory over No. 4 Christian Brothers in the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III playoffs Friday night at Christian Brothers.
The No. 5 seeded Cougars (24-6) battled back from an eight-point deficit in the second half to advance to next week’s semifinal matchup against No. 1 seed Vanden, who defeated No. 8 Mountain House 84-62.
It’s Golden Valley’s first time advancing to the semifinals since 2009.
“For us, we’re very excited, but we still have a lot of work to do,” said Magallanes. “We want to go a lot farther. So we’re going to celebrate, but we’ve got to get back to work because we play a good team next.”
Despite being the lower seed, Golden Valley will host top-seeded Vanden (24-6) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. because of the section executive committee’s punishment to Vanden coach Michael Holloway. The Vikings won’t host any playoff games after Holloway angrily confronted a referee after a game during a tournament in Modesto earlier this year.
An angry Keith Hunter may have swung momentum in Golden Valley’s favor against Christian Brothers. Hunter was whistled for a technical foul after complaining about an offensive charge called on Magallanes with 5:03 left in the third quarter. Christian Brothers (17-13) led 40-32 after Michael Moreno made one of the two free throws.
The Cougars responded.
Golden Valley outscored the Falcons 34 to 17 the rest of the way.
“It motivated us and made us play harder,” Magallanes said.
Harris played a big role in the Cougars’ fourth quarter. Not only did he dominate with his rebounds, but he also switched on defense to guard Christian Brothers’ 6-foot-7 senior Ryan Toschi.
Harris helped limit Toschi to just four of his 16 points in the fourth quarter.
Harris finished with 12 points to go along with his 18 rebounds.
“Aurrion has matured a lot since early in the season, said Golden Valley assistant coach Derrick Jacobs. “Tonight he sacrificed to do what we asked him to do. He’s a true leader and a true team player. He knows what we needed him to do.”
Magallanes scored 11 consecutive points for Golden Valley at one point during the fourth quarter. The Cougars, who struggled shooting most of the night, started knocking down shots in the fourth quarter and outscored the Falcons 21 to 11 in the fourth.
“Our defense picked up and we started getting layups of our defense,” Jacobs said. “Defense brings the energy and once you get going it’s hard to take it away.”
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 9:28 PM.
