On a night that celebrated the achievements of the late LPC basketball coach Tony Costello, the Chabot Gladiators reigned supreme.
Women
Ninety seconds into the game is not where you want to spend your first timeout. Las Positas Hawks trailed Chabot by just two points, but consecutive turnovers to start the game was unacceptable for coach Clarence Morgan.
However, the mistakes didn’t stop. Be it a product of nerves or rust, or inferiority, the plethora of miscues resulted in Las Positas suffering an embarrassing loss to a rival.
The Hawks opened Coast Conference North action with a 76-38 defeat to the Gladiators on Chabot’s home court. The loss dropped the women’s basketball team to 7-9 overall. Chabot is now 5-10.
Las Positas committed too many turnovers, a big reason they managed just points in the first half.
They also had the most difficult time corralling rebounds.
On defense, they repeatedly gave up offensive rebounds to the Gladiators. On one possession, Chabot got three shots on one possession.
On offense, Las Positas was limited to one shot each trip up the floor. Usually, they didn’t make it. Gabi Barbalinardo led the team with 9 points.
Despite Chabot suffering from foul trouble in the first half, the damage done was too much for Las Positas to overcome.
Las Positas next seeks its first conference win at home on Friday against Ohlone,
Men
The rivalry between Las Positas and Chabot was intense in the men’s game, which followed the women’s tilt.
Things got heated in the first half when Hawks sophomore center Justin Wolfe was all but body slammed to the hardwood. He got up from the hard foul and immediately shoved the closest Chabot player, earning Wolfe a techincal foul.
In the second half, Jayson Rose got payback, his hard foul knocking Adrian Crump to the court in a similar fashion to how Wolfe was fouled.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, they didn’t get their revenge on the scoreboard. The men’s squad was also blown out by the Gladiators, 94-67.
Las Positas was failed by one of its primary weapons: the 3-point shot. Sophomore guards Jacob Contreras and Steve Cazares, LPCʼs best 3-point shooters, were ice cold from beyond the arc in the first half. Combined, they made just one 3-pointer and totaled 10 of the Hawks’ 28 first-half points.
On top of the struggles with outside shooting, the Hawks couldn’t get any offense in the paint. With their two best big men, Wolfe and fellow sophomore Jacob Hohl, in foul trouble, the Hawks were no match for Chabot’s interior defense..
The Hawks host the Ohlone Renegades at 7 p.m. Friday night.