SAN JOSE — In a city as large as San Jose, it can be hard to find a game that captures the feeling of a proper local rivalry.
That feeling was abundant on Monday night as Leigh hosted Branham, pulling away late for a 56-38 win behind point guard Zach Norcia’s 23-point effort.
“These guys have played against each other for a long time,” Leigh head coach Joe Goydish said following the win. “It’s a backyard game.”
The Bruins closed the third on a 10-0 run and trailed just 35-29 after Ryan Sung made one of two free throws to open the fourth, but Leigh (5-2) fired back with a 14-0 run to put the game away. Norcia scored nine during the stretch, Caleb Asante drew a charge and Luca Joe Ewelt threw down his second dunk of the game, a two-hand rip in transition.
“We just had to run our sets, trust each other, play as a team, all that stuff,” said Norcia, whose 3-pointer capped off the run and extended the lead to 20.
Ewelt, who finished with 12 points and four assists, had missed time over the prior two weeks with an ankle injury, but looked close to full strength on Monday night.
“Everything changes with him in,” Norcia said. “Our rebounding’s great, our offense flows more. He’s such a smart player and it opens everything else up for his teammates.”
The 6-foot-5 Ewelt opened the third quarter with a steal and dunk after Branham (2-4) had closed the first half on a 6-0 run to cut the Longhorn lead to 11. A Norcia 3-pointer off a Colin Mantle assist capped off an 8-2 run to open the second half, extending the lead to 35-18, but the Bruins got the final 10 points of the third quarter, capped off by sophomore Dasan Poston’s bank 3-pointer. The visitors wouldn’t score again from the field until Drew Gatiss connected from beyond the arc with four minutes remaining in the game.
“It’s a matter of doing the little things to give ourselves the opportunity to compete at a high level against good teams,” acting Branham head coach Rob Awil said of his team’s scoring drought. “I wouldn’t say it’s so much shots not falling as it is our team continuing to learn how to do the right things consistently on both ends of the floor. We’re focused on giving ourselves a chance with our defensive effort and our consistency there.”
Adam Guarino finished with nine points and 14 rebounds to lead the Bruins, while Gatiss had eight points and 10 boards. Mantle joined Norcia and Ewelt in double figures with 10 points and dished out three assists.
“Even though I’m not really happy with how we played on offense, I’m very happy with how we played on defense,” Goydish said. “We really showed that we can guard and pressure the ball.”
The Longhorns return to action on Wednesday with a visit to More (2-6), then will compete in the Aptos/Santa Cruz Warriors Invitational from Dec. 27-29. Branham will host Lynbrook (6-1) on Saturday.
