Turlock claims share of milestone CCAL boys basketball title with a win over Downey
For the first time, the Turlock boys basketball team can call itself Central California Athletic League Champions.
The Bulldogs’ last chance to secure at least a share of the league’s top spot came Friday night against Downey in front of a packed gym.
“Revenge” might be too harsh of a word, but there was some extra motivation for Turlock. Downey beat the Bulldogs on their home court in the teams’ first matchup.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Turlock coach Nick Nathanson said. “It’s the first CCAL title for Turlock and we’ve only been in the league for a few years ... so it feels good.
“They (Downey) stole one from us earlier (this season). We’ve been waiting for this moment and we’re excited that we were able to get the win.”
Since the CCAL’s creation in the 2018-19 season, Turlock had been gunning for the league’s top spot. Their previous best was a second-place finish in 2018-19.
Friday’s 80-56 win brought the Bulldogs their first league title since they won back-to-back Central California Conference championships in 2014-15 and 2015-16. They will share the league title with Gregori, which beat Modesto 74-53.
Turlock set the tone early on the defensive end, from running shooters off the 3-point line to helping big men who changed layups at the rim.
It was able to extend its lead from 18-16 after the first to 38-26 going into halftime.
“We forced them to go baseline and if you get blown by ... we got Gavin Cox down there who’s 6-6 with a 7-foot wingspan,” said senior Daniel Malagon. “He’s gonna be there blocking shots and contesting it.
“Our defense is pretty hard to beat when we’re all 100% communicating and locking in.”
Malagon paced the Bulldogs’ offense with a team-high 23 points and connected on seven threes. He drained five in the second half alone, which sparked a 42-point half.
“He’s a three-year vet on varsity,” Nathanson said of Malagon. “The way he performs, a lot of people feed off of that. When he’s going off, we’re a very dangerous team.”
Gavin Cox and Kyle Ericksen also had big games with 19 and 18 points, respectively.
Downey, which is still on pace for a playoff berth, was led by guard Jahmaree Gonder’s 18 points. The Knights play their final league game against Pitman on Monday, Feb. 14.
This was months in the making
Nathanson took an already good program to another level when he became the head coach.
The journey to winning their first CCAL title started back in August when they laid out plans for what they wanted to accomplish this season.
“We all talked and we said ... we want to be competing for a section championship,” Nathanson said. “We’re still trying to do that for sure. So we’ll see how it goes.
“You got to win a league title before you compete for a section title and got to compete for a section title before you can compete for a state title. So we just want to take it one step at a time and surprise some people along the way.”
While winning a share of the league’s regular season title is an accomplishment, there are still games to be played. Seeding in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs will be determined Tuesday during the section’s selection show. It is a quick turnaround before they will have to play against some of the best the area has to offer.
“We’ll take this and soak it in and then Monday get right back to work, fine tuning all of our mistakes and making sure we get better for sections because there’s tough teams out there we got to go through.” Malagon said.
