Allen’s big second half helps Golden Valley score big win over El Capitan.

It was a rocky start to Central California Conference play for Golden Valley after stumbling on the road in the opener last week against Buhach Colony.

The Cougars picked themselves up, brushed off the dirt, and are right back in the thick of things in the CCC after posting back-to-back wins over Pitman and El Capitan.

The Cougars even find themselves tied atop the CCC after Monday’s 60-53 win over the Gauchos at Cougar Arena. Golden Valley, El Capitan and Pitman are all 2-1 in conference.

“I felt like we took care of the ball better,” said Golden Valley coach Keith Hunter, whose team improved to 12-5 overall. “The last two games we didn’t give up as many easy baskets. Also, they’re kids. They’re resilient. They fought their hearts out the last two nights.”

Golden Valley star Cyrus Allen sat out the Cougars’ 56-49 win over Pitman on Friday night after injuring his right ankle late against Buhach Colony.

“It was horrible,” Allen said of missing the game. “I feel out of shape now.”

Allen came off the bench and played a big role in the second half, scoring 17 of his 20 points in the final two quarters.

“I just went into beast mode,” Allen said.

Translation: Allen attacked the basket.

He scored on tips, drives, rebounds and help fuel a Golden Valley 11-0 run that gave the Cougars a 43-34 lead with 2:55 left in the third quarter.

After struggled to just 25 points in the first half the Cougars outscored El Capitan 22 to 10 in the third quarter.

“We got the ball inside,” Hunter said. “Cyrus’ points were all 1-footers. We also got back on defense. For us transition defense was key. We got back and got in line with the ball and we got stops. We got hurt in transition a few times early.”

Devon Martinez added 14 points for the Cougars, hitting a pair of 3-pointers.

The Gauchos battled back in the fourth quarter, starting the final frame with 10-1 run that cut the lead to 49-48 with 4:54 left in the game. Marcus McCutchen scored eight of his 20 points in the fourth quarter.

The Gauchos couldn’t overtake GV late, cutting the lead to 55-52 with 2:45 remaining. El Capitan didn’t have an answer for Allen.

Allen scored and drew a foul for a three-point play to extend the GV lead to 58-52 with 2:03 left. The Gauchos misfired on four 3-pointers in the final 2 minutes.

El Capitan will gear up for another big matchup on Wednesday at Merced (1-1 CCC), which lost to Pitman 47-43 on Wednesday night. Golden Valley heads to Turlock. The Bulldogs defeated Atwater 59-51 on Monday night.

This story was originally published January 8, 2018 at 9:36 PM with the headline "Allen’s big second half helps Golden Valley score big win over El Capitan.."