Gilroy – Gavilan picked the right time to turn the defensive tables Friday on San Jose City.
The Rams were down by as much as 16 points in the second half but found a way to walk away with a 56-53 win.
Gavilan (6-16, 2-4 conf) came out flat in the first and was down 28-18 at the half. San Jose (10-17, 2-4 conf.) kept up a constant pressure and built up a 46-30 lead with 10:52 left.
“We were off in the first half,” said Jessie LoBue, who led the game with 27 points. “Emotionally we weren’t with it. In the second half we came together as a team and made some big shots.”
In the first half, the Rams converted on just one of their seven steals, but in the second were 5-for-6 after turnovers.
Gavilan’s Micah Jones got hot and scored 12 of his 14 points in an 11-minute span, including a pair of treys that forced San Jose to call two timeouts.
“I didn’t think he was going to miss,” LoBue said. “That was big. We needed it.”
With about 10 minutes left, Gavilan started pressing, and it paid off nicely. The Rams went on a 16-2 run as San Jose was held scoreless for five minutes.
“We were trying to wait until we started pressing,” said Gavilan coach Tito Addison. “But we weren’t planning on them scoring as many points as they did. We wanted to wait and let them feel conformable. A team that likes to press usually doesn’t like being pressed back.”
During the Rams’ run Kenny Hills drew an offensive foul, and LoBue drained a long 3-pointer.
With 3:54 left, Hills had a steal and grabbed the offensive board after a missed shot. He hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 49. The Rams, who at one time held a 8-2 foul advantage in the second half, took the lead for good at 51-49 with 3:20 to go after Luke Murrell was fouled on the defensive end and made both his shots on the other end.
With a minute left, San Jose City hit a 3-pointer to draw within 54-53, but LoBue hit a short turnaround jump with 41 second to go. San Jose state got off a pair of 3-point attempts in the final seconds but couldn’t get them to fall.
“When they were pressing, we needed to stay aggressive and we didn’t,” said San Jose assistant coach Jay Sawyer.
Gavilan will be at Hartnell on Wednesday.
