Energy high, score low in Downey, Enochs CCAL boys basketball matchup
Downey High kicked off the second half of Central California Athletic League play on the road at Enochs in front of a homecoming crowd that was anything but welcoming to the league’s top team.
The gym was electric and both teams felt the effects of the near-capacity crowd early. Enochs held a 6-2 lead for most of the opening period until they settled in.
The Knights overcame a slow start to beat the Eagles 47-40, beating them for the second time this season and maintaining a perfect league record through six games.
“We snuck it out last time so I knew it would be a close game again,” Downey coach Mitch Evans said. “I told them yesterday … to get ready for it to be loud and to handle emotions and just stay focused on what we’re trying to execute.”
Downey trailed 12-6 after a defensive struggle in the first quarter but the offense began to click in the second. The Knights (18-5, 6-0) scored seven unanswered points to start the quarter and took a 13-12 lead with just under seven minutes left. They took a 30-23 lead into halftime.
“The second quarter was huge for us,” Evans said. “We came out and defended well, and our layups started falling. We hit a couple shots that helped keep the lead going into halftime.”
Junior guard Reuben Lewis scored 10 of his 17 points in the frame as the Knights opened up a 22-14 advantage with 3 minutes, 34 seconds left in the first half.
“At the (first-quarter) break, we were talking about just slowing down,” Lewis said. We were getting the shots we wanted, they just weren’t falling. In the second quarter, we just needed to come out and finish those shots.”
Lewis’s running mate, senior Lloyd French, finished tied with a game-high 17 points and added six steals, nine rebounds and two blocks.
Downey never trailed in the second half. Down the stretch, the ball was in the hands of Lewis or French.
“Teams like to trap a lot so it helps slow down the game,” Lewis said of the benefits of sharing responsibilities with French. “Teams can’t just double one player.”
The Knights remain in control of the CCAL’s top spot heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.
“They really handled the adversity well,” Evans said. “I thought that they did a really good job of climbing back into it and then just executing at the end of the game, slowing the pace down, trying to get some clock going and then knocking down a couple free throws. It was great.”
Where does Enochs go from here?
After upsetting Turlock and winning three straight during the first round of league play, the Eagles (12-10, 3-3) looked like they were in prime position for a playoff spot.
A win Friday night would have gone a long way in helping the Enochs keep its playoff hopes alive.
Any momentum the Eagles gained after taking a slight lead into the second quarter was quickly erased. Enochs started the frame with two turnovers and surrendered a corner three, falling behind 13-12 with 6:50 left in the half.
“We went in a slump to start the second quarter,” Enochs coach Craig Bernardi said. “They went on a 6-0 run and we couldn’t weather that. It took some wind out of our sails. I thought we were very hopeful going into the second quarter.”
The Eagles were never fully out of the game, keeping the affair close throughout and climbed within four points at the end of the third quarter.
They played outstanding defensively, holding a Knights team that averages 59 points per game to 47, but struggled on the offensive end.
“If you can hold them to 47, you’re pretty happy,” Bernardi said. “But we shot really bad tonight. Nothing was falling. I thought they bottled us up pretty good.”
While they are not completely out of the playoff picture, the Eagles will need to string wins together in their final four CCAL games against Turlock, Modesto, Gregori and Pitman.
“We’re trying to get three out of four,” Bernardi said. “If we get three out of four, we have a real shot. If we don’t, we’re depending on other teams to do something.”
This story was originally published January 28, 2023 at 11:37 AM.
