Garden Grove trailed by 16 points in the second quarter.
The Argonauts gradually chipped away at that deficit, took the lead early in the fourth quarter and rode the momentum to a 57-48 win over Bolsa Grande in a Garden Grove League boys basketball game Wednesday at Bolsa Grande High.
Garden Grove was undefeated in the league last year. Considering Bolsa Grande likely is the Argonauts’ top competition in the league, the win in Bolsa’s gym might be the most important step to finishing 10-0 in league again.
The Argonauts improved to 4-0 in league. They are 16-4 overall. Bolsa Grande is 15-5 overall and 2-1 in league.
Senior forward Gabriel Ganac said the key to the comeback was for the Argonauts to keep doing what they were doing.
“Remain stable,” he said. “Just play our game. We feel that we can be unstoppable when we’re playing our best.”
Garden Grove made a string of clutch baskets in the fourth quarter, and Ganac led the charge. His first and only 3-point attempt of the game went in during that fourth quarter to give Garden Grove a 44-42 lead. He followed with a steal that led to his fastbreak layup to make it 46-42.
Bolsa’s Ralph Bolanos converted a three-point play to trim the Argos’ lead to 46-45. Justin Lovato countered with a 3-pointer for a 49-45 lead. Garden Grove outscored Bolsa Grande, 8-4, the rest of the way.
Ganac scored a game-high 19 points, including all six of Garden Grove’s first-quarter points. Lovato scored 12 points, nine of them in the fourth quarter.
Bolanos paced Bolsa Grande with 15 points. High-scoring Bolsa guard Sebastian Waked, under constant watch by various Argos throughout the game, was held to 12 points, seven below his average.
Garden Grove coach Ken Frank credited the players for keeping their confidence when they had that 16-point deficit.
“We could have easily fell apart when it was 22-6,” Frank said. “I told the kids we had to rebound better, because we were doing a terrible job of boxing out, and to just get some better shots.”
Garden Grove got only five points at the free-throw line, where they were 5 for 6. Bolsa Grande was 16 for 19 at the free-throw line.
The Bolsa Grande-Garden Grove rematch is Feb. 4 at Garden Grove.
In the Orange Coast League:
Laguna Beach 74, Estancia 47: Darin Mitchell and Blake Burzell scored 20 and 19 points, respectively, for the league-leading Breakers (16-5, 5-0).
In the Trinity League:
No. 2 Santa Margarita 72, No. 9 Servite 51: Kaden Rasheed scored 23 points and Jake Kyman scored 22 for the host Eagles (13-6, 3-1).
Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com
