GARDEN GROVE – Despite a slow start Friday night, Santiago’s boys basketball team secured an important Garden Grove League victory by beating Garden Grove, 57-47, at Santiago High School.
Senior point guard Oscar Alcantar led the Cavaliers (11-7, 2-0) with 16 points and had a game-high 10 rebounds.
Garden Grove (12-7, 1-1) took a 14-10 lead over Santiago after the first quarter. The Cavaliers shooters were stone cold in the quarter, converting just four of 18 shots and going 0 of 5 on 3-pointers.
Santiago heated up in the second quarter, improving to 8 of 18 from the field and 2 of 5 from deep.
The Cavaliers also stepped it up in hustle stats, forcing 10 turnovers in the half and outrebounding the Argonauts, 20 to 11 in the half. For the game, they won the rebound battle, 42-18.
Santiago coach Al Robertson said the improvement wasn’t due to any coaching change.
“It’s like we tell our players: It’s got to come from within,” he said. “You can’t coach heart, you can’t coach desire, determination. Sometimes it doesn’t click right away and that’s life.”
Santiago took a 33-26 lead into the half, and though Garden Grove displayed better ball control in the second half, the Argonauts could not close the gap.
Garden Grove’s leading scorer, sophomore guard Sebastian Castro (16.3 points per game), did not play Friday. Garden Grove coach Ken Frank said Castro broke the growth plate in the middle finger of his right (shooting) finger in practice last week.
Frank doesn’t know how much longer Castro will be out.
Garden Grove, playing with a seven-man roster, could not find a way to consistently penetrate Santiago’s 3-2 zone. Instead, the Argonauts zipped the ball around the perimeter, looking to find an open shooter. Jerry Martinez and Mario Moemoe were both efficient from deep, but it was not enough.
Martinez was 3-of-5 on 3-pointers, and Moemoe was 4 of 8.
