Before the game even started the Matadors fan section was
asking the question, “Where is Chris?”
Senior Captain Chris Hatfield, the Mats starting center and leading
scorer, was nowhere to be found in the Campolindo gym last Friday night for
what was considered one of the biggest league games for the Mats this
season. It was reported that he had
attempted to come to the game but was unable to make it due to sickness.
Without Hatfield the Mats were lacking height and experience
at the center position. This left the
door wide open for the Cougars to drive towards the hoop and force the ball
inside to power forward Kellen Ito who managed to put up 10 points.
The first quarter was the closest the Mats were to tying the
game all night. It started off slow for
the Mats only managing to find eight points in the first quarter. They were able to keep Campo in their sights
only allowing them 14.
After that the Mats offense couldn’t buy a shot and the
Cougars ran away with it in the second.
Campolindo (Moraga, Calif.)started the second half with a 10-3 run with help from point guard
Erik Baker from behind the arc and with four minutes left in the second quarter
had a commanding 24-11 lead.
With no height, the Mats were over-matched and were not able
to get the ball into the paint, forcing them to take perimeter shots that
wouldn’t fall. The Mats put up five more
points in the end of the second quarter to end the half with a score of 32-16
in favor of the Cougars.
At the half the team leaders were Davis Louie with six
points for the Mats and Brian Sanders with nine points for the Cougars.
The game got worse for the Mats in the second half as they
only scored 18 more points in the rest of the game. The Cougars kept hitting shot after shot as
the Mats shots kept rimming out. The
third quarter ended with Campolindo leading 45-23.
The fourth quarter was much of the same and ended with
Campolindo slaughtering the Mats 57-34.
Notable players for the Mats were Davis Louie with 8 points and
Ross Anderson with 9 points and 5 blocks.
Notable players for the Cougars were Kellen Ito with 10
points, and Carl King with 11 points.
This ended the two game season series between Miramonte and
Campolindo with the Cougars taking the sweep.
The Cougars are currently sitting on top of the league with
a record of (10-0) and look to be heading to the North Coast Section Playoffs,
while the Mats are fighting to keep third place and get into playoffs with a
league record of (5-4).
