The Casa Grande boys basketball team got all it could handle from Fremont's American High in the opening round of the North Coast Section Division II playoffs Tuesday night, but managed to hang on for a 68-59 win.
The Gauchos move on to the next round where they are matched up against San Ramon's Dougherty Valley this Friday night at Casa Grande.
After a slow first quarter with both offenses trying to get into a rhythm, the Gauchos opened the game up a bit in the second. Senior Nick Sherry got inside the defense and was fouled as he made the bucket. Sherry converted the free-throw for the 3-point play.
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Shortly after, the team's leading scorer on the season, senior Joey Rodriguez knocked down a 3-pointer to put Casa up 21-15. The Gauchos closed the first half with Sherry hitting another three followed with a put-back of an offensive rebound at the buzzer. The halftime lead stood 28-17 in favor of Casa.
American came back in the second half with a vengeance. Behind an outstanding performance by senior Vinnie Toor, the Eagles began to chip away at the lead. “We didn't compete in the first half,” said Steve Kline, the coach for American. “We started being more aggressive offensively and Vinnie, especially, just played out of his mind.”
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Toor went on to score 18 of his game-high 25 points in the third quarter, shooting threes, driving the lane, hitting jumpers, and making free-throws. Heading into the fourth quarter an 11-point Casa lead was whittled down to just three at 43-40. “We definitely gave up too many points in the second half,” said James Forni, Casa Grande's basketball coach. “The third quarter was a disaster, we had too much inconsistency amongst a lot of players.”
That was enough to fire up the Gauchos in the final quarter to make sure to secure the victory. “We had to take away their best player (Toor),” said Sherry, who finished the game with a double-double 22 points and 11 rebounds. “We started to double team him and not let him get any good shots off.”
With the defense clamping down, junior Chase Stafford came up with a couple clutch plays that helped cushion the Gaucho advantage. A steal and a quick fast-break led to a score and later he launched a three-ball to put the Gauchos ahead 51-43 with 4:05 remaining. The game came down to free-throws as the Eagles were forced to put Casa on the charity stripe to conserve time. The Gauchos hit 13-of-14 free-throws to cap a 25-point fourth quarter and the win.
“They re-asserted themselves” said Kline of Casa. “We gave up too many offensive rebounds, second chance threes killed us and they made their free-throws.”
Josh Hayworth, senior, also played a great game for the Gauchos with a double-double of his own, 20 points and 16 boards. Rodriguez finished with 12 points and Stafford with nine. American's Armin Paras chipped in with 21 for the Eagles.
“It was ugly, but we got it done,” Forni said. “It's going to get tougher, the teams are going to get better and better. We've got to take the next two days to practice harder and practice faster to be ready.”
