Hawks boys basketball team beats league rival 51-38; looks
forward to first CCS appearance
San Juan Bautista – The Anzar boys basketball team roared out of the gates with a white-hot start, but then suffered through a slump that tested the team’s character.
Yes, the Hawks’ game against visiting Stevenson was following the blueprint of the team’s season to date.
But when all was said and done, Anzar would be thrilled if the remainder of its games in turn mirror how last night’s contest turned out.
After seeing their 20-point lead near the start of the third quarter get whittled down at the hands of a 12-0 Stevenson run, the Hawks recovered to finish with a 51-38 win.
“We showed real solid character,” said Anzar head coach Ed Cecena, whose team has recovered from a midseason slump and is now making its presence felt in the Mission Trail Athletic League. “We stayed positive and worked our way through it, and came out with the victory.”
At the outset, it looked like Stevenson (4-14, 2-8 Mission Trail) didn’t even belong in the same gym as the Hawks.
Scoring on its first three trips down the floor as four different players either scored or assisted, Anzar raced to a 7-0 lead before the Pirates knew what hit them. And then the Hawks ratcheted up their defensive pressure.
A flurry of arms and hands in the passing lanes prevented Stevenson from getting any semblance of an offense started as Anzar began to punish the Pirates with points off turnovers.
A nine-second sequence showed just how quickly the Hawks pounced on their visitors.
First, Anzar point guard Adrian Monroy stepped in front of a Stevenson pass at midcourt and drove to the hoop for a lay-up. Then, Monroy caught the Pirates off-guard by intercepting their inbounds pass and converting the steal for another lay-up to put his team up 15-4.
“We wanted to play a tough man-to-man [defense],” said Monroy. “We wanted to put as much pressure on them as possible before they got across midcourt.”
The Hawks (11-7, 5-6 Mission Trail) registered five steals in the opening period, including three by Monroy, to take a 23-9 lead at quarter’s end as all five starters scored.
Anzar didn’t even give a hint of a letdown in the second quarter. When junior guard James Henrard hit a deep three-pointer, the Hawks went up 28-13 with 4:35 left before halftime.
The hosts seemed to have the game comfortably in hand as they took a 38-20 lead into intermission.
But then came Stevenson’s run.
First, Pirates guard Charlie Scully drilled a three-pointer from the right corner, and then Evan Santos grabbed an offensive rebound and found Keith Johnson for a lay-up. By the time Johnson stole a Hawks’ pass and raced down for a lay-up with 5:50 left in the quarter, Stevenson pulled within 40-27 and had all the momentum on its side.
In all, the Pirates rattled off 12 unanswered points to close to 40-32 while Anzar was mired in a quarter-long offensive slump.
Asked the difference between his team’s blistering start and seven-minute scoreless drought in the third quarter, Anzar’s Scott Benson had a few thoughts.
“Poor vision. Poor shot selection,” said the junior forward. “We were just jacking up 3’s.”
Stevenson made a game effort to catch the Hawks–securing four offensive rebounds on one possession to eventually convert a put-back to climb within 44-36 with 3:29 left in the game–but Anzar returned to the tried-and-true formula of strong defense and solid free-throw shooting to close out the game.
The Hawks used blocked shots by junior guard Nick Romero and Monroy, and a steal and four consecutive free throws from senior forward Brent Ramos to outlast the Pirates.
Benson, Monroy and Romero all scored ten points to lead Anzar, while Ramos finished with eight, including a perfect 6-of-6 at the line. The well-rounded Hawks’ effort included six steals and five rebounds by Romero, five steals and three assists by Monroy, and nine rebounds and two blocks by Benson.
Stevenson forward Keith Johnson scored a game-high 12 points, while teammate Billy Falor contributed 10.
Pirates head coach Matt Arruda was none too pleased with his team’s performance.
“I thought we played terrible basketball for 3 1/2 quarters,” said Arruda. “The first half wasn’t us.”
Meanwhile, Cecena cited his team’s defensive effort as a trend that should benefit the team even when its offense gets bogged down.
“We need to make our identity as a tough, man-to-man type of team,” said the Anzar coach. “Our defense kind of carried us in the second half. The last couple of games, we’ve done a great job of shutting teams down. We can hang our hats on being a solid defensive team.”
Cecena was also pleased that his team appears to have settled down and made itself a force to be reckoned with in the Mission Trail Athletic League.
After using an early six-game winning streak to begin the season 7-1, Anzar struggled once it began league play. But after finishing seven consecutive seasons in the Mission Trail cellar, the Hawks rebounded from a three-game skid and have now won three of their last four games.
“They’ve never known anything but the bottom,” said Cecena of his players. “Other teams are starting to know that they’ll have their hands full when they play Anzar. We’re no longer the laughingstock of the league.”
Anzar finishes its Mission Trail season by hosting league-heavyweights Pacific Grove and Carmel on Feb. 16 and Feb. 18, respectively, before making its maiden appearance in the Central Coast Section playoffs.
