El Capitan grinds out WAC-title basketball win on the road
Chris Tufts knew the Western Athletic Conference title wouldn’t come easily.
Coming off an emotional one-point victory over Merced High School on Friday, the El Capitan boys basketball team had to get back up for a trip to Los Banos. Throw in the three-day weekend and the Tigers playing with nothing to lose, and the formula was there for the Gauchos to possibly slip up Tuesday night.
The possibility became all the more real as Los Banos took a three-point lead into the fourth quarter. Tufts’ veterans responded, however. Isaiah Knott (game-high 17 points) began getting to the basket at will, and the Sellers brothers, James and Mark, combined for three big three-pointers as El Capitan pulled out a 58-51 victory.
The victory gave the Gauchos (21-6, 11-1 WAC) their first outright boys basketball title.
“I think in the first half Los Banos’ coach (Marcus McGraw) had them going like hell,” Tufts said. “He had them going fast, and we were playing into that. We rushed some shots and really allowed them to dictate the tempo of the game.
“Defensively, we weren’t rotating fast enough, and they were splitting us on our press. We pulled it off probably midway through the second quarter and just tightened it up at halftime.”
Anthony Machado and Jacob Haumea each scored 10 points for the Tigers (6-17, 2-9 WAC), who led 33-28 at halftime.
El Capitan regrouped during intermission, trimmed the lead to three at the end of three and outscored Los Banos 16-6 in the fourth quarter. James Sellers finished with 16 points, while Mark Sellers scored eight.
“We weren’t overly jubilant,” Tufts said of the postgame celebration. “I think the guys were excited, but it was a really rough win. We didn’t even take a team photo after.
“I think they were happy to get out of there with the victory, and after a little reflection, we’ll probably all appreciate the moment a little more.”
This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 11:12 PM with the headline "El Capitan grinds out WAC-title basketball win on the road."