In the first game of the league season, boys’ basketball defeated Acalanes 75-53 on January 6 at home.

“[Acalanes] is a tough team,” said head coach Matt Watson. “They do a really good job of shooting the ball well.”

The Cougars started strong, scoring the first 13 points of the game. “We kind of put them down in a hole in the beginning and didn’t let up,” said senior center Chris Hansen.

Acalanes closed the gap in the 2nd quarter, but they could not keep up with Campolindo’s offense, which kept the Cougars firmly ahead throughout the 1st half. According to Watson, Hansen remained the star scorer of the game.

Junior Austin Clark agreed that Hansen was the game’s best player. “No one can compare to him in size,” said Clark. “He was just too much for [the other team].” Hansen stands 6 feet, 7 inches tall, according to Clark.

Hansen said, “I think Scott Chen did really well. He didn’t score very much, but he passed the ball a lot and gave us a lot of good opportunities.”

The rate of scoring slowed in the 2nd half, and Acalanes continued to close the gap.

“I think we got a lot of bench players that maybe haven’t had such a big role so far that stepped up and really helped the team,” said Clark of his team’s success.

With the win, Campolindo’s record improves to 10-2, while Acalanes’s falls to 4-11. The Cougars will play Alhambra away on January 9.