The Christian Learning boys basketball continued to build its legend as it won its third consecutive championship and completed a second straight undefeated season with a 42-31 victory over Cambridge before a home gymnasium packed with enthusiastic adherents of both teams Thursday evening.
The Eagles overcame a Knight team that had done everything it could to try to derail their success. The Knights had been practicing daily at 6 a.m to prepare, and brought a huge contingent of students and parents equipped with a drum and a siren.
But the Eagles yielded nothing in determination -- or showmanship. They galloped into the gymnasium led by their mascots, two acrobatic students dressed as Woody Woodpecker and Daffy Duck, while their fans filled the gym with cheers and the rattattat of plastic bottles being whacked on metal railings.
As the din slightly subsided a teacher and coach from the Cooperative who was there as an interested observer commented, "This is what basketball is supposed to be."
The din continued as the two teams battled evenly through the first quarter, which ended with Cambridge narrowly in front, 9-8. Alvaro Lopez and Jose Luis Rivera accounted for the Cambridge scoring, mostly on driving lay-ups. Christian Learning had baskets by four different players.
Cambridge briefly widened its lead to 11-8 on a long set shot by Rivera at the start of the second quarter, before the Eagles struck back with a vengeance. They would run off eleven unanswered points, and ultimately outscore the Knights 18-4 in the quarter.
The onslaught started with a swished three-pointer from the far corner by Caleb Hoover, and was followed by baskets from Paul Estes, Jesse Hallock, Andre Larsen, and then four points by Josh Hoover on a field goal and two foul shots. this was followed by two more baskets by Andre Larsen.
The Eagles combined great shooting with rebounding dominance, and when the smoke cleared they had the 13-point lead that they would retain for almost the entire remainder of the game.
The two teams fought to a draw in the third quarter, with the Eagles retaining their 13-point lead, 32-19.
The Knights, egged on by their unrelentingly raucous cheering section, sought desperately for some combination that would enable them to claw their way back into contention, but couldn't find the range from Three Point Land, and found the flak from the Eagle defense to be as intense as ever when they tried to storm their way to the basket.
The Eagles threatened to run away with the game in the fourth quarter as they stretched their lead to 38-19.
First they worked the ball inside with a series of brilliant quick passes that got the ball to Andrew Burgin alone under the basket for two points.
Then Danny Canaviri, who was playing the game with a fever, hit two foul shots, and followed those up with two beautifully arced pull-up jump shot that hit nothing but net.
But meanwhile Rivera steadied Cambridge by swishing in an artful lay-up and a three-pointer. Further Cambridge scores by Matias Martinez and Lopez, together with another confounding lay-up by Rivera finally enabled Cambridge to cut into the Christian Learning lead, which was down to ten points, 40-30, with three minutes to go.
From that point on, though, the defenses of both teams took control. The only remaining scoring consisted of two foul shots by Estes for the Eagles, and one by Lopez for Cambridge.
After the game, the Eagles then got their trophy and took their victory lap around the gym, but both teams and their fans seemed elated in the aftermath by what had been a well played, hard-fought contest that had provided a high-speed flow of exciting action.
Players and fans milled and mixed together around the gym floor in an elevated mood as parents snapped pictures of the teams, and individual players posed with their families.
The mood of the Cambridge fans was "Wait 'til next year." For the Christian learning crowd it was, "Catch us if you can."
In Friday's game the Eagles proved the observation once made by a rival coach: "They're tough because they have so many different ways they can hurt you." Christian Learning got points from seven different players, who often scored in spurts, then let a teammate renew the attack while a confused Knight defense tried to figure who or what was going to hit them next.
Caleb Hoover, for example, got his five points on two shots, one at the close of the first quarter, and the other at the opening of the second. His brother, Josh, ran off five in a row during the second quarter explosion, personally changing the score from 17-11 to 22-13, and thereby single-handedly suppressing Cambridge's hopes for an immediate comeback.
Danny Canaviri scored six in a row (out of his total of nine) in the fourth quarter when Cambridge was finally getting a counterattack unpacked.
Canaviri was one of three Eagle players suffering from fever and other flu-like symptoms. One of them, senior starter , Tim Zimmerman, did not dress in uniform for the game, and watched from the bench.
Cambridge's scoring depended almost entirely on the athletic derring-do by Rivera, who scored 17 points, and team captain Alvaro Lopez, who scored ten. Fabricio Subirana and Matias Martinez had two points each for Cambridge. Rivera was brilliant on fast breaks and broken field runs through the Eagle defense, but only hit one three-pointer, which was below his season average.
Looking ahead to next year, Christian Learning will lose through graduation or transfer Canaviri, Zimmerman, Estes, and the Hoover brothers. Cambridge will lose four of its five starters, but Rivera should be back. Both teams will be welcoming new members from their strong junior varsity teams of this year.
Jaguar girls dominate Lady Eagles, 34-13
The Cooperative girls varsity basketball team won its second consecutive championship and completed an undefeated season with a decisive 34-13 victory over Christian Learning Thursday in the championship game at the Christian Learning gym.
The Eagle girls fought hard and managed to keep the game competitive through the first quarter, at the conclusion of which Cooperative led 5-2.
A couple of foul shots by Abby Phillips at the start of the second quarter made it 5-4, and it looked as if the game might remain close. The Eagles were playing intense defense and doing a particularly good job of preventing Cooperative from using its favorite tactic of floating high passes to its two big forwards, Carla Limpias and Ana Paula Peredo.
But Peredo then showed she could hit from outside hitting two buckets from outside the foul stripe. Cecelia Aponte, the lone senior on the Jaguar team, and Aldana Roda both hit field goals. By halftime the Jaguars were in charge 17-8.
In the third quarter Jaguar guard Sofia Sotelo went on a scoring spree, hitting for nine points, seven of them in a row. Aponte and Tania Landivar also scored, opening up a 30-10 advantage for the Jaguars at the end of the quarter. Mariela Salinas accounted for the Eagles only basket with a nicely executed set shot from mid-range.
Cooperative essentially coasted in from there, scoring four more points in the final quarter on baskets by Limpias and Aponte.
Christian Learning senior Kaylynn Lampen did give the Christian Learning fans a final thrill as she concluded her high school basketball career with one of her famed rainbow three-pointers.
For Cooperative, Sotelo was high point woman with 11 points. Limpias, Peredo and Aponte each notched six, Aldana Roda had three, and Tania Landivar two.
There is no relief in sight for Jaguar opponents. All of the players on this year's team should be back next year except Aponte, who graduates. Next year's team will have the services of Giovanna Varalta, a slick player who was sidelined this year by a foot operation.
For Christian Learning, Kaylynn Lampen had seven points, while Abby Phillips, Erica Kienzle, and Mariela Salinas had two points each. The Lady Eagles will lose through graduation Lampen, Kienzle, Ruth Nyquist. and several key substitutes, but will be welcoming back Tabitha Malloy, their star starting center a year ago, who is returning from the United States.
