Sports
Boys Basketball: Gauchos Down Mission, Advance in State Tournament
Shooting guard Jabri Jenkins goes off in victory.
El Cerrito 76, Mission-SF 62
The Star: Senior standout Jabri Jenkins poured in a game-high 32 points, 20 of which came in the second half.
The Quote: "It feels good to get back on track," said Jenkins, who shot 10-for-17 from the field. "This puts us back in a positive mindset to try to get to state."
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What’s Next?: The No.4- seeded Gauchos will host Burlingame on Thursday at 7 p.m.
Bottom Line: Once it's playoff time, how a team win doesn't matter. The name of the game is simply to find a way to win. El Cerrito did just that.
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The season is still very much alive for the High boys basketball team.
Point guard Bobby Syvanthong scored eight points and dished out eight assists and shooting guard Jabri Jenkins tallied a game-high 32 points, as the Gauchos defeated Mission of San Francisco 76-62 Tuesday evening.
With the victory, El Cerrito advances to the second round of the Northern California Division III playoffs. The 4th-seeded Gauchos will host Burlingame Thursday evening at 7 p.m.
"It's NorCal and teams aren't going to quit," said coach Michael Booker. "Mission played until the very end. We were just a little bigger and had a little more athleticism."
A lot of that athleticism Booker touched on showed on the defensive end as El Cerrito consistently threw the Mission offense out of sync. From the opening tip, the Gauchos displayed a variety of defensive looks at the Bears, including a three-quarter court press that caused confusion and chaos, especially early on.
In the end, the Gauchos forced 21 turnovers.
"It feels good to get back on track," said Jenkins, who shot 10-for-17 from the field. "This puts us back in a positive mindset to try to get to state."
The contest was especially satisfying for the springy 6-foot-4 Jenkins, who was simply subpar in the North Coast Section loss to San Marin last week.
In , Jenkins -- El Cerrito's leading scorer -- tallied just nine points.
After a slow start Tuesday evening against Mission, however, Jenkins quickly found the offensive rhythm that the Gauchos have been so accustomed to.
The Gauchos (23-7) held a 38-25 lead going into halftime and a lot of that damage offensively came from Jenkins. The senior was even better in the second half, scoring 20 of his 32 points in the final two quarters.
"He started off slow but then he got going," said Booker. "He didn't play real well in the NCS championship and I think he wanted to come out and prove that he still can play at a high level."
Jenkins' production was badly needed in light of big man Eric Nelson finding himself in foul trouble for the second consecutive game. Nelson picked up his third foul just minutes into the third quarter and eventually fouled out having scored just three points.
Jamontee Condor added 15 points and Justin Johnson chipped in with 10 points for El Cerrito.
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El Cerrito 76, Mission-SF 62
1 2 3 4 F Mission
12
13 12
25
62
El Cerrito
24
14
16
22
76
Individuals — (fg ftm tp) Mission
Stancil 3 8-9 14, Edwards 4 3-3 12, Tatum 2 2-3 6, Fisher 1 1-2 3, Malbrough 2 1-1 5, Price-Moku 1 1-2 3, Prescott 0 2-2 2, Gaines 2 2-3 6, Porter 4 3-5 11. Totals 19 23-30 62. El Cerrito
Syvanthong 4 0-1 8, Jenkins 10 12-17 32, Johnson 4 2-5 10, Nelson 1 1-2 3, Condor 6 3-3 15, Streets 1 0-0 2, Pippins 2 2-3 6. Totals 28 20-31 76.
3-point goals: Mission 1 (Edwards).
Records: Mission 23-12, El Cerrito 23-7.
NorCal Division III playoffs, March 8, 2011.
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