Cubs come back to beat the Falcons

The Anderson boys varsity basketball team went into their game against Central Valley on Friday set to stop power player Luke Cassedy.

But the defensive strategy ended up working against the Cubs, and they trailed by as much as 11 points in the first half. A change back to the trusty man-to-man defense put the Cubs back in control. They topped the Falcons, 54-48.

"The coaching staff decided to run a new defense where we paid a lot of attention to Luke Cassedy, and we did it very badly," Cubs coach Larry Newman said.

Though the Cubs strategy stifled Cassedy slightly (who totaled 14 game points), the rest of the Falcons team capitalized on the Cubs defensive switch by making a number of uncontested three-pointers. Falcons Carlos Mancasola hit 5 threes in the game, while Wes Atwood had 3.

The first quarter ended with CV ahead 18-8, and things didn't start to turn around until mid-way through the second quarter.

"We changed defenses and the game changed," Newman said. "We went back to the man to man defense we always play, and still gave up a little more to Luke than we would have otherwise, but we also shut down the other kids who were just killing us."

The Cubs came back from 14-24 deficit in the second quarter. The held the Falcons scoreless for the final four minutes of the quarter, while closing the gap to just four points at the half (20-24).

The tempo of the game changed in the second half with the Cubs strong defense, a better scoring percentage and consistent rebounding.

"We are much bigger team than they are and some of our kids are bigger jumpers. When you have a rebounding advantage, it plays out, and it played out tonight," Newman said.

Junior Zach Guibergia was on fire with his rebounds.

"He fought on the boards and was aggressive," Coach Newman said.

"That's not his nature. He's a very quiet, kind guy. For him to try to be aggressive like that is hard, and it's taken some time. He battled tonight and I was impressed by him," the coach said.

Ty Meyer also stood out as a power player in the Falcons game.

The win against CV puts Anderson at 9-9 overall, and a 2-1 league record. The win puts them on track as a contender with league favorites, Corning and West Valley.

"As we entered the season, I think most people thought Corning and West Valley were probably the two best teams," Newman said.

The Cubs were able to beat Corning on the road, but fell to West Valley (43-58) in their first two league games.

If the Cubs are able to continue their success from the CV game against Lassen and Yreka, they will be in a good position for the final series of league games.

"If we don't make a mistake there, we go into the second half of the league where we get to have home games against West Valley and Corning," Newman said. "Our fate is in our own hands."