Blair Wortham showed up for Thursday’s game with City College of
San Francisco with his away jersey.
Gilroy – Blair Wortham showed up for Thursday’s game with City College of San Francisco with his away jersey.
One couldn’t blame the Gavilan’s frontcourt player. After all, 11 of the first 12 games were on the road. He had to go get his home uniform.
“It was so nice not to get out of a white van to play a basketball game,” Gavilan coach Tito Addison said.
It was even nicer getting a quality win. A half-season worth of close losses and frustration was erased when Gavilan upended CC of San Francisco 77-70 at Bud Ottmar Memorial Gymnasium.
“Do you know, we’ve played six of the top 15 teams in Northern California,” coach Tito Addison said. “We had five losses by a combined seven points.
“It was interesting. The guys were glad after the game but they weren’t celebrating. It was a great win and I’m very proud of the guys. It was a game where we took care of the basketball.”
What makes the win most impressive is that CC-SF entered ranked No. 2 in Northern California and No. 3 in the state.
The second half was easily the best Gavilan (4-9) has played all season. Gavilan shot 13-of-24 from the field and was aided by three treys by Micah Jones of Live Oak. Gavilan erased a 35-34 deficit and put 43 points on the board against the visitors (14-3).
“We did enough defensively in the first half to take them out of what they like to do,” Addison said. “They like to score quick easy buckets. We made them look to their second or third options.”
Gavilan had plenty of offensive weapons. Jessie LoBue had 26 points and 11 rebounds. Eric Van Vliet, who missed the previous two games with a knee injury, came up big with 15 points, 16 rebounds and eight blocked shots. Jones had his best game with 12 points with all his scoring coming from long range. Point guard Django Evans continued his resurgence with 11 points and seven assists.
“He’s coming around nicely,” Addison said of Evans, who has helped stabilize the point. “He saw his sophomore year slipping away. He’s stepping up and we’re benefiting.”
Also, with Van Vliet effective inside, it is opening up the outside. Gavilan made 9-of-15 treys Thursday.
‘We’re hoping this can be the win that turns around our season,” Van Vliet said.
