The Anzar High boys basketball team knew it was facing a test by
taking on host Sobrato in the first round of the Bulldog Chase on
Wednesday.
Morgan Hill – The Anzar High boys basketball team knew it was facing a test by taking on host Sobrato in the first round of the Bulldog Chase on Wednesday.
The Bulldogs came into the tournament with a deceptive 4-5 record, having lost close games to powerhouses Berkeley and Oak Grove.
But despite all that, the Hawks came out with a strong defensive effort and had leads at the end of second and third quarters, but couldn’t hold on and lost 49-47.
“We knew they were going to be tough,” Anzar coach Ed Cecena said. “They have some size and are a pretty athletic group.”
Where the Hawks (7-3) proved to be most impressive was in shutting down Sobrato leading scorer Marqus Crawford, who entered the game averaging 23.2 points per game.
Anzar held him scoreless for the first three quarters, but his seven points in the fourth quarter proved to be critical in helping the Bulldogs rally from as much as four points down to earn the victory.
“We knew he was going to be their best player,” Cecena said. “We were giving a lot of help to whoever was covering him and we did a pretty descent job.”
While the game’s pace slow down quite a bit, it got off to a fast start in the first quarter.
Sobrato’s Mubarik Abdullahi scored 10 of his game-high 22 points in the period as the Bulldogs took a early 17-14 advantage.
Anzar’s Erik Olson helped his team answer in the second quarter. He buried a pair of 3-pointers as the Hawks regained the lead at 22-21 and they went into halftime with a 29-27 lead.
Abdullahi heated up again in the third period with seven points to help Sobrato trim the lead to one entering the fourth quarter and early in the final frame Crawford finally got on the board by splitting a pair of free throws.
A 3-pointer by the Bulldogs’ Robert Mercado with about five minutes remaining tied the game at 43.
Olson, who tied Scott Benson for team-high honors with 16 points, scored inside to give the lead back to Anzar at 45-43, but four free-throws by Crawford in a 37-second span put Sobrato in front at 47-45.
Benson buried a pair of free-throws with about two and a half minutes to go to tie the game, but a jumper by Crawford with 1:40 left gave the Bulldogs the lead for good.
Benson had an opportunity at the free-throw line with 52 seconds left, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one.
He had a good look at the basket with five seconds left, but his shot was short and a putback attempt by Adrian Monroy went off the rim and the buzzer sounded.
“It was ugly but we’ll take it every day,” Abdullahi said. “Anzar’s a good team.”
Ryan Waller and Stephen Mockabee both finished with six points and Oliver Indarose nailed a second-quarter 3-pointer for his only points.
