Sports
Boys Basketball: El Cerrito Cannot Find the Range Against San Marin in NCS Championship
Gauchos' point guard Syvanthong performs well in the loss, racking up 10 points to go with seven assists and five steals.
San Marin 47, El Cerrito 44
The Star: Eric Nelson had the uneviable task of marking San Marin's low-post beast Stuart Wasonga and largely held him in check until after halftime. He limited Wasonga to nine first half points and cut down on his touches. However, in the second half Nelson was saddled with foul trouble and struggled to keep Wasonga contained.
Even so, Nelson played a tremendous game for El Cerrito, leading the team with 15 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks.
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The Turning Point: The Mustangs trailed 25-23 at the half and were having major difficulties breaking the Gauchos’ swarming full court pressure. San Marin’s stud center was stuck on nine points and had very few touches in the post.
The Mustangs came out of the locker room with a lightening fast 6-0 run, giving them a 29-25 advantage. San Marin consistently pounded El Cerrito inside with Wasonga, who exploded for 11 points in the quarter and brought down the house with a nasty two-hand sledgehammer, to give the Mustangs a 31-29 lead late in the third quarter.
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In the fourth quarter, El Cerrito tied the score twice and even took the lead at 41-40 on a Jabri Jenkins three-pointer with 3:45 remaining. The Gauchos could not hold the advantage, as they simply had no answer for Wasonga. He scored on consecutive possessions off a pair of offensive rebounds and the Mustangs never trailed after his basket with 3:27 left in the game.
The Quote: “(Wasonga) deserves all the credit he gets and probably more. I love that kid. He works so hard and he deserves all of this. His numbers are ridiculous. He never ceases to amaze me. It is unbelievable what he can do.”—San Marin’s guard Ryan Zirkle.
What’s Next: El Cerrito looks forward to learning their seeding in the CIF Northern California Playoffs starting next week.
Bottom Line: The Gauchos had a clean look at a spot-up three at the buzzer to send the game into overtime but just missed. The Mustangs fought and eventually broke through El Cerrito’s vicious full-court pressure and rode their beast Wesonga to the section crown.
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became the latest East Bay basketball powerhouse to fall victim to the newly crowned giant slayer's, . Saturday night, the Gauchos, playing in their second consecutive North Coast section championship, lost to the Mustangs, 47-44 .
The Mustangs capped a dream run through the Division II playoffs with another white-knuckle victory. San Marin dodged two different Jabri Jenkins jumpers in the games waning seconds, to bus home the coveted NCS banner.
“On the final play we took away their first option. In the timeout, I told my guys to watch the high screen and roll,” San Marin coach Craig Pitti said. “I cannot imagine that is exactly what they were looking for but the kid got a good look at it and just missed. In basketball sometimes you need to catch a lucky break and we got a couple tonight.”
In many ways, the Mustangs created their own good fortune with tremendous half court defense and the superman exploits of Stuart Wesonga.
“What did (Wasonga) have 30 rebounds?” exclaimed El Cerrito coach Michael Booker. “If you cannot keep him out of the paint and box him out … that is what killed us. He is getting timely rebounds and keeping them alive.”
Wasonga recorded 27 rebounds along with 26 points, 17 of which came in the second half.
“I was struggling to get the ball in the first half and my coach told me to just settle down, keep playing and not worry about it. Tonight was a tough game, we had to fight through some tough situations,” Wasonga said. “I just kept fighting. I just went out there and did what my team needed me to do and help them out in any way I could.”
He also made the clutch play of the night on a miraculous, game saving, block. The Mustang’s were clinging to a tenuous 45-44 advantage with 30 seconds remaining, and turned the ball over directly under their basket giving El Cerrito what appeared to be an uncontested lay-up. Wasonga made his way from well beyond the three-point line, to block the shot at its apex and keep the deflection in bounds.
San Marin recovered the rebound and called for timeout. The Gauchos were forced to foul immediately on the inbounds, sending Chris Glennon to the line for two shots as they were in the double bonus.
Glennon failed to convert on either attempt, setting up El Cerrito with a chance at the win with 19 seconds left in the game.
The Mustangs defense limited the ultra-talented Jenkins to nine points but had problems with the Gauchos’ savvy point guard Bobby Syvanthong and center Eric Nelson. Syvanthong dropped in 10 points to go with seven assists and five steals and was the key to the El Cerrito swarming pressure.
Nelson, a high riser much like Wasonga, led the Gauchos with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 6 blocks
“We did not want to play at their pace. We had to find a way to control the pace of the game. When it was real up-tempo, that is when they made their runs and we struggled,” Pitti said. “I think based on the score, this was our paced game. They did not want to play (this slowly) and we forced them to play at our pace. It was not pretty by any stretch. A lot of our wins are not, but we get it done.”
Gritty San Marin point guard Ryan Zirkle, who had his hands full all day battling the physical and unrelenting Gaucho press, also came through in the clutch.
Zirkle grabbed the rebound off of Jenkin’s missed shot and was fouled with 6.3 seconds remaining in the game (a situation almost identical to the semifinal match against O’Dowd where he was fouled and coolly sank two free throws with 7 second remaining). He again coonverted both shots putting San Marin up 47-44 and setting up El Cerrito’s final attempt to send the game into overtime.
The Gauchos inbounded the basketball and quickly pushed the ball up the floor. Syvanthong drove the length of the court and found an open Jenkins on the left wing for the three. Jenkins got a clean look at the shot, even with Glennon desperately attempting to get a hand in his face, and had the shot rim out as the buzzer sounded.
Both teams will be waiting anxiously to find out their seeding in the NorCal playoffs this week and may just be rematched on their quests for a state title. The Mustangs’ faithful is desperately hoping for a top seed and first round bye to pick up some much-deserved rest and practice time.
San Marin 47, El Cerrito 44
1
2
3
4
F
San Marin
8
15
13
11
47
El Cerrito
10
15
8
11
44
Individuals — (fg ftm-fta tp)
San Marin
Zirkle 1 2-2 4, Glennon 2 3-6 7, Coyne 0 0-2 0, Triantafyllos 1 1-1 3, Seavey 1 0-0 2, Burrows 1 3-4 5, Weonga 10 6-9 26. Totals 14 15-24 47.
El Cerrito
Nelson 7 1-2 15, Syvanthong 4 1-2 10, Condor 2 1-6 5, Jenkins 3 1-4 9, Johnson 2 1-2 5. Totals 18 5-16 44.
3-point goals: Syvanthong, Jenkins 2.
Fouled out: None.
Records: San Marin 29-4; El Cerrito 22-7.
North Coast Section Division II Finals, boys basketball, 3/6/11