Second-half surge helps Atwater High boys clinch share of fourth straight CCC hoops title
Senior point guard Khoi Nguyen scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the second half as the Atwater High boys basketball team defeated El Capitan 58-48 to clinch at least a share of their fourth consecutive Central California Conference championship on Wednesday night at El Capitan High School.
The Falcons (15-13 overall, 9-3 CCC) erased a five-point deficit at the half to retain the top spot in the CCC.
“Down the stretch Khoi made the plays he is capable of making,” said Atwater coach Kanoa Smith. “He’s the first four-year CCC champion in school history.”
The key for the second half comeback for the Falcons was limiting their turnovers, according to Smith.
El Capitan (15-12, 6-5 CCC) helped force Atwater into 14 first-half turnovers to help the Gauchos build a 24-19 lead at intermission. Braylen Centeno scored 11 of his team-high 16 points in the first half.
“El Capitan is the one team all year that has made us play a style we didn’t want to play,” Smith said. “At halftime I felt like ‘Chubbs’ from ‘Happy Gilmore.’ I kept saying, ‘Take care of the ball. Take care of the ball.’ The kids even started singing it.”
After giving away 14 turnovers in the first half, Atwater cut that number to seven in the second half.
Sophomore AJ Banks and Sylas Austin came up big for the Falcons in the second half too as Banks finished with 15 points and Austin added 10 points.
The Falcons will share the CCC championship with the winner of Friday’s game between Patterson and Golden Valley. The Tigers defeated Buhach Colony 73-50 on Wednesday night and the Cougars defeated Central Valley 59-34. Both Golden Valley and Patterson are tied at 8-3 in the CCC.
“We’re really happy,” Smith said. “All we heard was how last year was our year but we’re going to fall off this year after graduating 10 seniors. For us to be where we’re at, we kind of had that chip on our shoulder.”
