King City – Anzar found itself up against an inspired opponent Tuesday and fell to King City 74-67 in Mission Trail Athletic League boys basketball action.
“They seemed to play one of their better games of the season,” coach Ed Cecena said. “They were up to the task.
“Obviously, we probably underestimated them a little bit. I don’t know why, I warned them against letting down. (King City’s) playing for their playoff lives and they ended up just playing harder and better than we did.”
Scott Benson had a big night with 27 points and 22 rebounds, but the Hawks (15-9, 7-5) struggled defensively against the hot-shooting Mustangs (7-16, 5-6).
“We didn’t defend anybody,” Cecena said. “We played well on offense but we couldn’t get a stop.”
King City had four players in double-digits in scoring, led by Jimmy Barbree’s 21 points. Aaron Gomez and Rory Johnson added 11 and Colby Williams had 10.
Stephen Mockabee had 15 points and five steals for Anzar and Erik Olson added 12. Adrian Monroy dished out six assists.
The Hawks trailed by three at the end of the first quarter and were down 36-32 at halftime.
King City pushed the lead to 57-51 entering the fourth quarter and Anzar couldn’t close the gap.
Anzar finishes the season with a pair of tough road game next week. The third-place Hawks take on first-place Pacific Grove on Monday and face fourth-place Carmel in the regular season finale Wednesday.
