Anzar falls to Stevenson Monday, beat Gonzales 63-60 last
Thursday
Pebble Beach
The short-handed Anzar boys basketball team managed to stay within striking distance of second-place Stevenson for a short while Monday, but the Pirates proved to be too much and pulled away with a 54-37 win.
Anzar’s Erik Olson contributed his usual double-double performance, scoring 16 points and pulling down 20 boards for the Hawks, which fall to 2-6 in the Mission Trail Athletic League.
The outcome is an improvement from the previous time these two team’s met up, though, when Stevenson defeated Anzar 85-53.
“We managed to get them to play down at our level, at our pace, but then they picked it up a little bit,” coach Ed Cecena said. “We had them nervous for a little while.”
Anzar and Stevenson were tied 7-7 after one quarter, and the Hawks trailed at the half 19-13. Said Cecena, “We managed to keep them pretty close in the first half.”
Defensively, Anzar held Stevenson’s Connor Hale, who dropped 28 on the Hawks earlier this season, to just 10 points Monday.
Of the nine players on Anzar’s roster, one was out with an illness Monday, while another was playing but was not 100 percent.
Cecena said he feels his team is playing better recently, especially after Anzar’s 63-60 win over Gonzales last Thursday, a win that snapped a four-game losing streak for the Hawks.
It almost didn’t go Anzar’s way, though, as the Hawks trailed by nine points heading to the fourth quarter.
“We came back and played really good in the fourth quarter,” Cecena said. “We got contributions tonight from other players, which makes a huge difference.”
Olson contributed 21 points and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead the Hawks, while Tavo Indarose added 15 points and five assists, and Steven Mockabee had 11 points with eight assists and five steals.
“We did a really good job of hitting our shots and playing our offense,” Cecena said. “We played some really decent defense.”
The Hawks will host Greenfield Wednesday in San Juan Bautista. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
“If we get the kind of effort we saw tonight (against Stevenson),” Cecena added, “we can definitely get a win over Greenfield.”
Team 1 2 3 4 F
ANZ 7 6 10 14 37
RLS 7 12 19 16 54
ANZ (37) – Mockabee 2 0 1 5, Waller 2 0 0 4, Staley 3 0 0 6, Olson 5 0 6 16, Merz 2 0 2 6.
Team 1 2 3 4 F
ANZ 10 16 16 21 63
GON 13 16 20 11 60
ANZ (63) – Indarose 6 1 0 15, Mockabee 4 1 0 11, Rania 1 1 0 5, Staley 1 0 0 2, Olson 9 1 0 21, Merz 4 0 1 9.
