Players Elrod, Gagliardi lead the way in quarterfinal victory
The Citrus College men’s basketball team won their quarterfinal matchup 70-59 over the College of the Sequoias Giants on March 14.
With 13:29 remaining in the second half, Giants guard Bobby Santos hit a jumper from the corner to bring the deficit to just one point.
As momentum was shifting towards the Giants, Citrus guard Josh Caston answered quickly with a jumper of his own to bring the score to 42-39 in favor of Citrus.
The Owls subsequently went on a 10-0 run capped by a Sam Gagliardi 3-pointer to increase the lead to 50-39.
The streak of dominance lasted four minutes.
“I haven’t been shooting great in the playoffs but they keep telling me ‘keep shooting, keep shooting’ and that’s what I do,” Gagliardi said. “I put in the work in the gym so I trust that work, to come out here and hit shots, it doesn’t matter the game.”
Gagliardi had quite the season from beyond the arc, breaking the record for most 3-pointers in a single game by any Citrus men’s basketball player.
Following the 10-0 run by Citrus, the Giants called a timeout with a visibly frustrated team and coaching staff.
In what turned out to be the defining minutes of the game, Citrus exerted intense defensive pressure during the stretch of dominance on both ends of the court.
The defensive effort from the Owls was too much to handle for the Giants and their head coach Rusty Smith.
“They defended outstanding and the pressure really bothered us,” Smith said.
In addition to the defense, Citrus made 13 3-pointers and went 9-for-10 from the free-throw line.
“They shot great,” Smith said.
Despite several spurts of proficient offense from the Giants, momentum and dominance belonged to the Owls from the beginning.
The Owls never surrendered the lead from the moment they gained it in the second minute of the game when they went up 3-2.
With 13:06 remaining in the first half, Gagliardi stole the ball after an uncontrolled and reckless drive by Sequoias guard Keshawn Gibbs.
Gagliardi navigated his way through the defenders for a coast-to-coast layup, putting the Owls up 9-4 at that point in time.
Lockdown defense by Citrus lasted all game long, and was prevalent in the first half.
Guard Treyvon Watts-Hale was shuffling his feet on defense all night, moving with purpose and direction.
Watts-Hale was the clear dominant defender for either squad.
“My role on the team is to lock up the best player on the other team every night,” Watts-Hale said.
Defense was a clear problem for the Giants as Watts-Hale was able to single handedly force several turnovers.
“I really take pride in locking up somebody and they get frustrated, I really enjoy that,” Watts-Hale said.
The pressure on defense allowed the offensive game to expand in terms of getting out in transition and spreading the floor to create open looks.
“You turn your defense into your offense so when you doing good on defense, your offense starts to flow better,” Watts-Hale said.
Over four straight possessions in the first half, the Owls’ defense was able to force the Giants into committing three turnovers, two missed shots and calling a timeout.
The Giants made several pushes for the lead prior to halftime but Citrus forward Jesse Elrod had other plans in mind.
From the 8:50 mark to the 5:39 mark in the first half, Citrus went on an 14-2 run.
Elrod scored three jumpers from beyond the arc and made a contested shot with an and-1 all in that time frame.
“Everyone has confidence in each other, we find each other in transition and in whatever defense they are in, everybody works together and that’s how we get the job done at the end of the day,” Elrod said.
Elrod scored 12 points in four minutes, expressing extreme emotion when swishing his jumpers.
Preparation in the film room and aid from the coaching staff are keys to success for Elrod.
“The whole coaching staff is something special, they give us a great scouting run through in practice and great breakdowns,” Elrod said.
Owls’ coach Brett Lauer was pleased with the performance during the quarterfinal matchup.
“We focused on competing, we focused on each other, we focused on our positive attitude and this is how we have to be,” Lauer said.
Defense is something that Citrus College has built its program upon during the tenure of Lauer.
“Our program has always been built on defense, what we wanna do is pressure on defense, have each others backs on defense,” Lauer said.
Lauer prefers the offensive game to come naturally to his players, while the energy and strategy is focused primarily on defense.
“Offensively, we’re gonna play free but be aggressive and make plays for each other, we focus all our energy on defense and then players make plays on offense… they know they have the freedom to shoot the shots they want to shoot if they do their job on defense,” Lauer said.
The Owls’ win propels them into the semifinal round where they will face a one-loss team, the Community College of San Francisco.
Lauer said all they need to do is continue to do the things that have been the foundation for their success this season such as defending at a high level, having each other’s backs, making plays for each other on offense and having genuine excitement for each other’s success.
Lauer is prepared and has his players in the right mindset for their upcoming contest.
“We’re locked in, we just have to stay humble, play our game and don’t do anything different, just keep winning. Winning is everything for our culture. It’s all about winning,” Elrod said.
Citrus College (24-6) will face off against the Community College of San Francisco (29-1) in the CCCAA State Semifinal at 1 p.m. on March 16 at Ventura College.
