GILROY
–– The days of lopsided loss to far superior opponents are
behind the Gavilan College men’s basketball team, but the next step
to victory is still just beyond the squad’s grasp.
Battling all the way with Coast Conference-leading San Jose City
College in Wednesday’s home game, the Rams went cold from the field
for an eight-minute span of the second half and fell short again,
59-55.
GILROY –– The days of lopsided loss to far superior opponents are behind the Gavilan College men’s basketball team, but the next step to victory is still just beyond the squad’s grasp.
Battling all the way with Coast Conference-leading San Jose City College in Wednesday’s home game, the Rams went cold from the field for an eight-minute span of the second half and fell short again, 59-55.
“In all reality, we have outplayed each of our four opponents for a stretch of at least 35 minutes each game in conference,” head coach Chris Shoemaker said. “But each game we’ve had a stretch of about two or three minutes where we allow people to make a little run on us and again I think that was the difference tonight.”
Gavilan was all tied up with San Jose City at 39-39 with 13:25 remaining when its shots stopped falling. Meanwhile, the Jaguars went on an 11-0 run to claim the double-digit lead they never relinquished. Freshman Tim Goode ended the Rams’ scoring slump with 5:55 left, but they were behind by nine.
“I think their size hurt us a little bit,” Shoemaker said. “They were getting offensive rebounds and that’s what wears you out because you compete hard for 35 seconds and they get the ball back and you have to compete for another 35, which is very tough to beat a good team when you’re doing that.”
The Rams were not about to throw in the towel, cutting the gap to six on sophomore guard Tommy Sondgroth’s three-pointer and then down to four on sophomore Erik Nelson’s trey from way downtown.
San Jose City responded with a run of its own, stretching to a seven-point edge in the final minute. Sondgroth (13 points) ended the game with another trifecta to make it a four-point loss.
“It’s been a combination of hard luck and we’re playing good teams,” Shoemaker said. “I’m really very proud of my team because I think they’ve competed as hard as they could all four games. We’re going to get some down the road.”
Up next, the Rams hit the road for a Jan. 30 clash against West Valley College at 7 p.m. and then to Hartnell College on Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. They return home Feb. 11 against Cabrillo College at 7:30 p.m.
“If we have a game where we’re consistent and we play smart throughout the whole game and continue with our effort, we’re going to be just fine,” Shoemaker said. “To build off of this, we’re basically two possessions away from the first-place team in our conference. I think that’s a positive. At the same time, we know that we have to get better and at this point in the season there’s not a lot of room for more victories. … We have six games left and we want to log a couple more Ws.”
Freshman Lionel Smith, who was a force underneath for the Rams, finished with 11 points, while Nelson also added 11 and freshman Mike Fugate tallied eight points. Freshman Jon Morrison scored six points.
“Probably inch for inch maybe (Smith) is the best rebounder in the state. He’s six-three and he’s getting nine rebounds a game for us. We can’t complain there,” Shoemaker said. “It’s really tough, especially with low numbers and against good competition. I hand it to my guys. They never quit playing tonight. They played as hard as they always do. We just didn’t quite have enough down the stretch.”
