The men’s basketball team’s hard-fought win over Ohlone College March 5 put the NorCal Regional finals game in the Bear Cubs’ sights.
Another rambunctious crowd filled Haehl Pavilion Wednesday evening. The shortest starter for the Bear Cubs, 5’10” guard Davone Oliver, and the tallest, 6’10” center Luke Cocheran, performed their ritual flying chest bump before the game.
Leading rebounder Cory Hammell, who is playing on an injured foot, warmed up and looked ready to play despite leaving the last game on crutches.
“My shoe has a special insole. It was taped, and I received a shot in the joint before the game to numb it,” Hammell said.
The Bear Cubs got going early with a three-pointer from Alec Kobre and battled with Ohlone College for 20 minutes.
SRJC lead by only two points at the half.
Six and a half minutes into the second half, SRJC’s leading scorer Matthew Hayes got fouled as he made a three-pointer and sunk his free throw, tying the game at 37.
The crowd went nuts.
“I’ve been to a lot of different colleges in my three years here and there’s no better crowd then our crowd. It’s pretty awesome that the football team [and] swim team is here tonight,” said Alec Kobre. “They’re a huge push for us especially late in the game.”
Head coach Craig McMillan utilized his bench players and switched the line up to have four perimeter players in instead of three.
“Having Kai Drewry in it changed the way they were able to play their defense,” McMillan said.
Both teams tasted the lead but could not hold onto it.
“We got some put-backs, 50/50 balls, Corey [Hammell] was huge, the two put-backs he got was awesome,” said assistant coach Maurice Thompson.
Hammell’s mentality in the second half was to go all out for the win; “be a beast and get the W,” he said.
Hustle and heart kept the Bear Cubs in the game.
“That’s called a grind-it-out game: you’re not scoring a lot, just got to play good defense and rebound,” Kobre said.
With the win, SRJC advanced to the NorCal Regional semi-final game against Fresno City College, who beat SRJC 57-70 in pre-season.
The semi-final game eliminated the Bear Cubs in the last three seasons and sophomore Alec Kobre wants to lead this team further in his last year at SRJC.
“We’ve made it a conscious effort that we’re not going to lose this time,” Kobre said.
Eight teams remain in the hunt for a state title and Fresno City College stands in the Bear Cubs’ way.
Kobre is confident about the upcoming game. “[Fresno] was the second game of the year. We weren’t as good as we are now; we’ll be ready,” he said.
Fresno boasts a 30-2 overall record, attacks the basket and presses on defense.
“We beat their press; we beat them,” said Davone Oliver. He finished the game with 11 points in the 67-60 win on Wednesday.
The third round playoff will be at Fresno City College at 7:30 pm on March 8.
