El Cerrito 79, Alameda 45

The star: El Cerrito guard Jabri Jenkins scored 26 points for the Gauchos, collecting baskets in transition and off of offensive rebounds.

The turning point: The Gauchos dominated this one from the opening whistle to the final buzzer.

The quote: “We didn’t play very well (in our last game), so it was good to see us come back and play like this.” - El Cerrito coach Michael Booker.

What’s next?: The Gauchos visit Pinole Valley next Tuesday in a game that will go a long way toward determining the ACCAL champion.

Bottom line: Another game, another win for the Gauchos. This was a dominant performance, which has to give the team confidence heading into their big test in Pinole.

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Friday night, El Cerrito did exactly what it was supposed to do when faced with an inferior team.

Dominate.

The Gauchos blew past Alameda, coasting to a 79-45 league win at home. El Cerrito used an enormous rebounding advantage to get second chance points and trigger its fast break. For the Gauchos, who struggled to a 70-60 win over Hercules in their last game, the win builds the team’s confidence heading into Tuesday’s important matchup with Pinole Valley.

“For the most part, I was happy with what we did,” Gauchos coach Michael Booker said. “We didn’t play well against Hercules, so we really needed to rebound from that. And we did.”

El Cerrito controlled this game for all 32 minutes, outscoring Alameda by at least five points in each of the game’s four quarters. 

The formula for the night was simple: Eric Nelson blocks a shot or grabs a rebound; Nelson then makes an outlet pass to Bobby Syvanthong; Syvanthong races down the court, stops at the free throw line and then finds a swingman for an easy transition basket.

Most of the time, that swingman was Jabri Jenkins.

The rangy and athletic senior guard finished the night with 26 points, most of which came on transition baskets. Time after time, Jenkins outran the Hornets defenders down the court, where he just had to wait for Syvanthong to find him with the ball.

“They’re such an athletic team,” Alameda coach Allen Nakamura said of El Cerrito. “They had the advantage in size and speed and athleticism.”

But while the Gauchos were effective in transition, Booker wants his team to focus on the half-court.

“We have some half-court things that I really want us to work on,” Booker said. “Running the fast break is always going to be our strength, but we need to be able to run half court sets too.”

Beyond Jenkins’ performance, the scoring was a group effort. Nelson, Syvanthong and foward Justin Johnson scored 10 points apiece. 

But as usual, the team’s success all began on the glass.

“We dominated the boards,” Booker said. “That was the key to the game.”

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