Central Valley applies pressure in rout of El Capitan

Limiting points off turnovers was a major point of emphasis for El Capitan boys basketball coach Chris Tufts heading into Friday night.

It was the difference in the Gauchos’ first meeting with Western Athletic Conference leader Central Valley, as the Hawks’ 1-3-1 press caused his young squad fits.

It didn’t go much better at the Stable Center on Friday night. El Capitan took its only lead about two minutes into the second half, just to have CV explode for 14 points in less than two minutes. The Gauchos never recovered from the run and fell 70-51.

“We just panicked,” said junior guard Isaiah Knott, who scored a team-high 21 points. “They got us to rush, and we started making bad decisions. If we could have been composed like we were in the second quarter, we would have been fine.

“It doesn’t help that they have a deeper bench. That’s a lot of hard hits on our body, and I think we started to wear down.”

The Gauchos (10-12, 3-5 WAC) displayed some grit early, fighting back from a rough first quarter-and-a-half.

El Cap turned over the ball 10 times against the press in the first quarter as the Hawks (18-3, 8-0 WAC) raced to a 17-8 lead behind Jaron Dickson’s three three-pointers.

CV pushed that lead to 12 in the second quarter, but Tufts’ squad began chipping away.

Foul trouble forced Central Valley out of its press, and El Cap took advantage of the extra space. Knott had nine second-quarter points and James Sellers four of his 13 as El Capitan trimmed the lead to 27-24 at the break.

The Gauchos rode the momentum into the second half, scoring the first five points after the break. A Sellers three gave the Gauchos their only lead, 29-27, with 5:56 to go in the third.

It didn’t last long as Dickson took over. The senior scored 13 of his game-high 27 points in the third quarter, including seven straight at one point to spark the 14-0 run.

“They’ve got the horses,” Tufts said. “There’s a reason they’re undefeated in league right now. We were trying to build on some positive things going into the half. We came out and ran a couple scripted plays to start the second half and got the lead.

“They just turned it on. If we want to get to that championship level, we have to make teams pay when they press us.”

The Central Valley run extended to 22-4 as the Hawks took a commanding 49-32 lead.

A Sellers three-pointer at the end of the third quarter brought the Gauchos back within striking distance, down 12, but El Cap would never get any closer.

Daevon Brown (18 points) and Dickson put the game out of reach at the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.

Jarod Latona finished with eight points for El Capitan.

This story was originally published January 30, 2015 at 11:15 PM with the headline "Central Valley applies pressure in rout of El Capitan."