The men’s basketball team ended their season with an 83-68 loss at home to the Gavilan College Rams during the first round of the 3C2A Northern California Regional playoffs on Wednesday.
Sophomore guard Isaiah Griffin was the leading scorer with 25 total points and said he wishes he could go back to do more to help the team win.
“I feel like, when they went up 20, it drove me. I don’t know about everybody else, but it drove me to want to come back and want to just win the game,” Griffin said. “We started to come back, but we couldn’t get enough stops down the stretch.”
Head Coach Jonathan James said, “it was the wrong night to have a bad night.”
The Hawks led by as many as 10 points in the first half, but were 25-67 on field goals for the night. They scored 21 points off of turnovers and 12 points from the bench. The team finished the game shooting 34.8% from the three-point line, according to the box score.
“At the end of the day, we had a successful season, we had a winning record, we made it to the postseason,” James said. “There’s 104 teams in the state of California. Twenty-four in the north go to the playoffs and 24 in the south, so we’re fortunate enough to be one of those teams.”
James said the team faced a lot of adversity throughout the season and their ability to overcome it is a testament to the players and their ability to stick together.
“I don’t know too many teams that could face the things that we faced and overcome some of the challenges we faced this season,” James said.
The Hawks ranked number 15 in the conference before facing the number 18 ranked Rams and finished their season with a 16-13 record, averaging 71.8 points per game, according to the Hawks Athletics website.
The team will say goodbye to their sophomores, including three Big 8 1st Team All Conference players: sophomore guards Karlos Zepeda and Isaiah Griffin and forward Antonio Tercero.
Freshman guard Aalijah Gillyard was injured within the final five minutes of the game and was unable to return.
Griffin said Gillyard plays a big role defensively and brings a lot of energy to the team.
“When he went down, it’s never good to see a teammate go down, but you just got to step up. You get put in, so that’s what I did,” Tercero said.
Tercero said he would like to first and foremost thank his lord and savior Jesus Christ for allowing him to be with his team of brothers and allowing him to be confident.
“I think there were some big ups and downs, but at the end of the day you just have to stay positive and keep pushing through, collectively as a team and stick together and keep working hard,” Tercero said.
Griffin said he hasn’t received any offers from universities yet, but would like to attend Hawaiʻi Pacific University or a historically black college and university. He said he doesn’t care what level he plays at, he just wants to keep playing basketball.
James said he told his sophomores the real work is just beginning if they’re looking to continue playing. He said the college with the best fit for them is what’s most important and said the sophomores will have a chance to meet with colleges at an upcoming conference tournament.
“One, making sure to keep their butt’s in the classroom. Two, making sure they stay in shape and then just putting their best foot forward,” James said. “We have the sophomore showcase that’s coming up during state tournament in a few weeks and they’ll go and showcase their talents there.”