Sports
Boys Basketball: Castro Valley Staves Off Franklin, Advances to Regional Semis
The Trojans hold off a fourth quarter comeback by the Wildcats, winning 68-61
Castro Valley 68, Franklin 63
The Star: Roderick Bobbitt scored 26 first-half points and finished with 36.
The Turning Point: The Wildcats shrunk Castro Valley’s lead to just two at 53-51 early in the fourth quarter, but a 6-0 Trojans run gave them enough of a cushion to pull off the victory.
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The Quote: “It wasn’t going to be easy. Anybody who thought it was going to be easy doesn’t get it. It was a little closer than I would have liked but it is what it is,” Castro Valley coach Nick Jones said.
Who's Next? The Trojans will host Oakland in the Northern California semifinals Saturday at Washington High at 7 p.m.
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The Bottom Line: Castro Valley won its first NorCal playoff game in school history and will try to advance to the NorCal finals against Oakland, which they beat early in the year.
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boys basketball coach Nick Jones knows the California Interscholastic Federation state playoffs are no picnic.
Thursday night’s matchup with Franklin was a prime example of Jones’ mindset for the Trojans.
Up by as many as 16 in the first quarter, Castro Valley allowed the Wildcats to cut its lead to just two in the fourth, before pulling away for a 68-63 victory at Washington High in Fremont.
“It wasn’t going to be easy,” Jones said. “Anybody who thought it was going to be easy doesn’t get it. It’s was a little closer than I would have liked but it is what it is”
Franklin had no answer for Trojans point guard Roderick Bobbitt in the first half, who sank five three-pointers in the first half, and went into the locker room with 26 points. He would finish with 36 points.
“He’s pretty good, he’s pretty good,” Jones said.
But the halftime horn turned out to be the flipping of the switch for both teams.
With the Wildcats double teaming Bobbitt, and Juan Anderson in foul trouble with three fouls, Castro Valley fell flat in the third.
Franklin started the second half with a 7-0 run, which Anderson stopped with an easy put-in. The Wildcats took advantage of a lack-luster Trojans offense, outscoring them 20-9 in the third to cut the deficit to 51-47 going into the fourth quarter.
Theo Johnson’s jumper for Franklin made it a two-point game just seconds into the final frame, but that’s as close as the Wildcats would get.
Castro Valley answered with a 6-0 run to take back control.
“They hung in. We’ve lost games like that where we unravel a little bit,” Jones said.
Jones was glad his team was able to a finish the game, despite being outscored 39-26 in the second half.
“They hung in, they stuck together, they made key buckets when they needed to and got the job done,” he said.
Jones added that Franklin was a better team than what was on paper.
“They’re a good team. All this talk that ‘oh they’re the No. 8 seed’ is insane,” he said. “They’re a very good team. I knew they were going to come out in the second half and it wasn’t going to be a cakewalk.”
The Trojans will host Oakland on Saturday at Washington High at 7 p.m., with the winner earning a spot in the Northern California Division I finals at Powerbalance Pavilion in Sacramento (formerly known as Arco Arena).
Castro Valley beat Oakland .
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Castro Valley 68, Franklin 63
1 2 3 4 FFranklin
16 11 20 19 63 Castro Valley 22 20 9 17 68 Individuals — (fg ftm-fta tp) Franklin Toney 1 0-0 2, I. Iroegbu 2 0-0 6, C. Iroegbu 6 6-9 18, T. Johnson 16, D. Johnson 3 1-2 7, King 4 6-7 14. Total 21 15-22 63. CV Johnson 3 0-0 6, Foster 4 2-2 10, Read 5 2-4 12, Bobbitt 12 6-8 36, Anderson 2 0-3 4. Totals 26 10-15 68. 3-point goals: Franklin - I. Iroegbu. CV - Bobbitt 6. Records: Franklin 1-1, CV 1-0 NorCal Division I quarterfinals, boys basketball, 3/10/2011 Follow Patch Sports East Bay on Twitter
