Tough road schedule ends with pair of losses in Chabot
Classic
As if playing 11 of its first 12 games on the road wasn’t enough, Gavilan faced personnel challenges over the weekend during the Chabot College Classic in Hayward.
The Rams were without their two leading scorers. Eric Van Vliet was resting a sore knee that he banged in practice, and Daniel Wynn was missing because of personal reasons.
Gavilan came up short in the tournament, falling 74-63 to Las Positas and 70-62 to Monterey Peninsula College.
Diablo Valley College earned the tournament title by downing host Chabot 74-66 in the title game Sunday. Tournament MVP Doug Daniels scored 18 points and had eight rebounds to pace the Vikings.
Jessie LoBue continued to step up big for the Rams (3-9) and Jango Evans began to show the promise that was expected from him.
“When you’re missing your two leading scorers this far in the season, it’s rough for guys to step up,” Gavilan coach Tito Addison said. “I was more than thrilled with the way we played (against Las Positas) and not real happy with the way we played in the first half against Monterey. But this team is not quitters. They don’t hang their heads. They made a nice second-half comeback.”
The pesky turnovers that have hampered the Rams during much of the season were absent for 36 minutes of the opener with Las Positas.
“I definitely felt we outplayed them,” Addison said. “It was back and forth until the last four minutes. We had only 11 turnovers, but six came in the last four minutes.”
LoBue had 19 points and 14 rebounds for Gavilan. Evans had 13 points, three assists and two steals. Kenny Hills had 12 points and 11 rebounds.
The Rams were flat in the early going against MPC, falling behind by as many as 18 and trailing 45-30 at halftime. But Hills and Nick McLaurin paced a furious comeback that allowed Gavilan to seize a five-point lead. MPC used what amounted to a 5-point play – two missed Rams’ free throws followed by a trey – to turn the game back in its favor.
Lo Bue had 22 points, Evans had 14, Hills had 10 rebounds and McLaurin had five assists and three steals to pace Gavilan.
The Rams will try to halt a four-game losing streak as they return home this week. Gavilan faces San Francisco City College at 7pm Thursday in Bud Ottmar Memorial Gymnasium.
