Westmont’s rally goes for naught as Christopher wins CCS Division II title

SANTA CLARA — Westmont trailed nearly your entire sport. Down by seven halfway by way of the fourth quarter, the Warriors went on an 11-0 run to take a four-point lead with 25.2 seconds left.

It seemed as if Westmont, which had misplaced to Christopher 3 times throughout the common season, was lastly going to interrupt by way of with the Central Coast Part Division II championship as a prize.

However Christopher was not able to throw within the towel. Anton Mendezona knocked down a 3-pointer to convey the Cougars inside one. Then they fouled to cease the clock and Westmont misfired on two free throws.

Christopher elected to not name timeout.

“I told the guys we got to push it, transition, we don’t have time to set it up, play basketball,” Christopher coach Adam Sax mentioned.

Junior guard Trey Caragio grabbed the ball and streaked down the court docket on the dribble, drove the lane and put up the game-winning shot, off the glass and down by way of the web with 2.1 seconds left to present Christopher a 51-50 win and a CCS championship Saturday at Santa Clara Excessive.

“Stay calm,” Caragio mentioned of his mindset. “We’ve been in that situation before. This year we’ve had a lot of blowouts, but those close games are what we live for. Championship games, game-winners, that’s as big as it gets. We’ve been here three years in a row. We knew we were going to get it this year.”

Christopher grabbed the lead on the outset, going up 8-0, 12-3 and 19-10 on the finish of the primary quarter earlier than Westmont began to proper itself.

The Warriors bought again into the sport with the 3-pointer. They made 12 in all, accounting for 36 of their 50 factors. Seth Reese made 5 and scored a game-high 19 factors. Gabe Mathiesen (13 factors) and Ryan Yee (11) knocked down three apiece.

Yee’s 3s all got here at essential instances. His third-quarter 3 gave Westmont its first lead of the sport, 34-33. Then in Westmont’s late fourth-quarter rally he made one to tie it and one other proper after to present Westmont a 49-46 lead with 28 seconds left.

However it proved to not be fairly sufficient.

“We shot the ball well,” Westmont coach John Franza mentioned. “Wish we could’ve made one more. A tough loss for the kids. But our locker room conversation was, `keep your head up. We’ll get a bid for NorCal, see where we go.’ That’s what we’re looking at now. We’ll be good to go next week.”

Christopher (25-2) had eight gamers rating in comparison with 4 for Westmont. Jaxen Robinson led the way in which with 10 factors because the Cougars received the varsity’s and the group’s first CCS basketball title.

“First time in history of Gilroy, most wins in history of Gilroy, first title in school history,” Sax mentioned. “A lot of firsts. The kids played hard all year and they deserve it.”