Basketball Barely Pulls Out Win Against Rival

Boys varsity basketball pulled out the win against rival Acalanes on January 24 in the Don’s territory, with a final score of 64-61. This game was originally supposed to take place at home on January 4, but extreme downpour and lightning caused the game to be canceled last minute, in an effort to keep people off the dangerous roads.

The game was stress-inducing for the Red C because Campo did not obtain a real lead until the final quarter. Although the game was very close point wise, the Dons still managed to take the lead at the end of the first three quarters.
“This is one of the best teams that Acalanes has had in a long time, so we knew it was gonna be a really tough game. We also knew that it was going to be hard playing at their place, but we were excited despite that,” said Head Coach Steven Dyer.

The first quarter started out rough for the Cougars, with Acalanes obtaining 21 points mainly from three-pointers. Campo struggled to keep up and was focused on defending these lethal shots. “They had a really good first quarter, and honestly really good first half, so we had to kick it into gear defensively…Defensively at halftime we had to make some changes,” said guard senior Logan Robeson. The score at the end of the first quarter was 21-15, with Acalanes taking the lead.

The second quarter proved to be a much more even game, with both teams scoring 17 points. Although Campo had matched Aca’s point threshold, they still were down by six, with a score of 38-32 at halftime. However, the Cougs kept their heads up and started the third quarter with a new sense of motivation.

Wing junior Diggy Mansour had a particularly interesting motivation going into this game, due to the fact that he went to middle school with the opposing team. “Coming from Lafayette, I was pretty excited to play. Their fans actually influenced me in a way of wanting to perform better. Also having the Campo fans there supporting was a huge help,” said Mansour.

The Cougars took the upper hand in the second half; amassing an impressive 32 points, compared to the Dons 23 points. “We played a lot better defense in the fourth quarter and we had a lot of good passing. This led to two big baskets towards the end of the game, along with how we played more together in the fourth quarter. Our guys really fought to get the win,” said Dyer.

The final seconds were very stress inducing on both sides. The score stood at 64-61 with Campo in the lead, only a meager three point difference between a win and a tie. The Cougs held strong, however, and successfully held off the Dons from scoring, leaving the final score at 64-61.

Looking forward to the rest of the season, Robeson is “really looking forward to playoffs. It’s always a fun time of year with both state and NCS because they are both really cool experiences to be a part of. I’m looking forward to spending the last few weeks that we have as a team together and working towards achieving our common goals.”