MORAGA, Calif. – Campolindo head coach Steven Dyer feels his team hasn’t peaked yet this season, and if Tuesday night's battle with Clayton Valley was any indication, he may be right. The Cougars showed flashes of pure brilliance, played solidly throughout most of the contest, but had to fend off a no-quit Ugly Eagles’ squad that came into gym with 20 wins. In the end, Campolindo’s core of Shane O’Reilly, Clay Naffziger, and Logan Robeson willed the Cougars to a 60-53 victory. The teams are now tied for the best record in their league.
Naffziger topped all scorers with 20 points along with eight rebounds, Robeson added 19 points and seven boards, and O’Reilly scored seven of his 11 points in the first quarter while being a defensive threat throughout, for Campolindo (17-6, 8-1 DFAL).
For Clayton Valley (20-3, 8-1 DFAL), sophomore Elijah Perryman had 18 points and nine rebounds, and Jake King tallied 12 of his 15 points in the second half and added five rebounds.
In these teams’ first match up back on January 11th, Clayton Valley started strong with a 20-5 first quarter and came away with a 74-66 win. Five Ugly Eagles reached double figure scoring in that contest, and Campolindo was without O’Reilly.
“We were not happy with the way we played the first time against them,” Campolindo coach Steven Dyer stated, acknowledging that missing O’Reilly’s leadership and defense hurt. “We were really fired up for this game.”
“We know they’re a great team,” Naffziger said. “We just had to stay the course. We were watching film for hours preparing for this game.”
On Tuesday, it was the Cougars who opened out of the gates on fire. They scored the first 10 points of the game and in the first quarter hit four of their nine three-pointers on the night (Naffziger and Robeson finished with four treys apiece).
Clayton Valley couldn’t afford to have cold shooting against a team like Campo, but that’s exactly what happened in the second quarter. In the first 4:30 of the period Clayton Valley had only one bucket while Campo had racked up 13 points. A small late flurry by the visitors at least kept them within shouting distance, as they trailed 35-22 at the half.
In the third, however, Clayton Valley found its rhythm. Several times in the second half, Clayton Valley brought the lead down to nine, only to see Campolindo score. With 6:51 remaining in the game, however, the Ugly Eagles finally broke through as a King three-point play made it 52-44. Clayton Valley got as close as five, 55-50, with 4:03 to go, but a Roberson strike from distance thirty seconds later, and then enough stops, assured the victory.
“We have a coaching staff that knows how to get wins and as long as we stay disciplined, and stay doing what they tell us, I think that we’re gonna do great things,” Robeson remarked.
Dylan Mansour also had a fine game for Campolindo despite scoring six points. He added seven rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block to his stat line.
“I hope we haven’t peaked yet,” Dyer added. “I think we’ve recommitted to defense and that’s been really helpful for us. We gotta get better than this though, for sure.”
“I was proud of the way we clawed back for sure, because it certainly could have gone the other direction,” Clayton Valley coach Frank Allocco said. “I think they found out that they can face some adversity and not play very well and still battle against one of the best teams in California. They defended us well. They’re physical. We settled and didn’t do what we normally do. Our offensive philosophy is to get to the rim, get to the rim, and once we started doing that we had more success.”
