In a battle of the two remaining undefeated Hayward Area Athletic League teams, the Castro Valley Trojans were able to bring the defensive pressure against the Bishop O'Dowd Dragons to hold on to a 51-45 win at the neutral site of Chabot College in Hayward. The game was held in a capacity crowd of 1,350 that was quite loud through the evening.
Dragon Anders Haas hit the team's lone 3-point made field goal of the entire game in the first minute of the quarter to give the Dragons their only lead of the game, 3-2. Castro Valley would run off 12 straight points to lead 14-3 before the Dragons scored a field goal with 58 seconds left in the quarter. Trojan Juan Anderson had a few dunks that keyed the 18-7 first quarter lead.
The second quarter had both team playing anemic offense as both teams were held to single digits. Castro Valley was able to hold on to a ten point lead at 26-16 at the end of the quarter. The first half was highlighted by Castro Valley's suffocating defense and the Dragons' inability to execute on the offensive end.
The third quarter had Castro Valley using a pressing defense that caused trouble for the Dragons in advancing the ball. The Trojans kept their double digit lead for most of the quarter. The Dragons made a run at the end of the quarter to trim the deficit to 34-28.
In the fourth quarter, the Dragons scored the first field goal to be down 34-30, which was the smallest deficit that they would see. The Trojans would extend the lead to double digits at 45-34. Dragon Brandon Ashley used his size advantage late in the quarter but it was too little too late as the Trojans won 51-45.
Notes
How this game was won: The Trojan defense was the key. Coach Nick Jones felt the defense played with tenacity and it was a total team effort on the defense and rebounding. O'Dowd Coach Doug Vierra agreed about the Trojan defensive effort. He also felt that Juan Anderson did a good job covering Ashley.
Turning Point: At the beginning of the third quarter, the Dragons trimmed the deficit 34-30 and had a breakaway possession that resulted in a missed layup. Castro Valley went on the break and Chris Read received a 15 foot pass and finished with a one hand dunk. On the following possession, Read had another breakaway dunk. O'Dowd had the chance to cut the lead to two points and take momentum. Instead, Read had two consecutive dunks to extend the lead to 38-30 as the crowd erupted.
Castro Valley analysis: Castro Valley had a really balanced scoring effort as four players were in double digits with Read leading with 15 points. The team struggled from the perimeter as they only had one 3-point field goal. But the defense and rebounding made up for any offensive deficiency in this game.
Bishop O'Dowd analysis: Ashley was the lone double digit scorer with 18 points with 11 coming in the fourth quarter. The team had one 3-point field goal and made 8 of 16 free throws. Coach Vierra felt a key difference was that Castro Valley had more offensive rebounds and converted more of those into points than the Dragons.
What is next for Castro Valley: At 18-1 and undefeated in league, Castro Valley should remain undefeated in league until the season finale rematch with the Dragons on 2/18 at Chabot College. Anderson still wants to take things game by game but admitted that this was a big game considering how they lost to the Dragons last year. Coach Jones also felt that this was huge win for the team.
What is next for Bishop O'Dowd: At 15-4, the Dragons are coming off of a 54-53 close win against Hayward and then this loss to Castro Valley. Coach Vierra stated that the team cannot look past any team and that starts with getting better in practice. Still, the Dragons should be able to go unscathed before the rematch with Castro Valley.
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