By Ed Piper, Jr.
"It was a good team effort," said forward Charlie Gal, after La Jolla's 62-52 nonleague win over University City Tues., Dec. 13. "We have some things to work on."
The Vikings, playing before their home crowd for this first time this season, broke out to a 20-point lead in the second quarter, outscoring the shocked Centurions 28-5 beginning near the end of the first period.
But things got a lot more real in the second half, as La Jolla came back down to earth and UC steadily chipped away at the lead to come within eight points midway through the fourth quarter.
"They definitely gave us a run for the money," said Gal, packing up his things behind the team bench next to the scorer's table after the final result was in.
The burly 6-5 junior, enjoying his first season as a starter on Coach Paul Baranowski's team after subbing as a sophomore, played a major role in La Jolla's spurt to leap ahead in the first half, and in the Vikings' successful fight to stave off a furious Centurion attack at the end.
Gal, reciting a script of modesty, said, "My teammates have been doing a really great job of setting me up for baskets. Reed (Farley) attracts a lot of attention, which takes the pressure off me. Quinn (Rawdin) also hits some key baskets."
He leads the team statistically in scoring and rebounding.
Gal, who came from being a virtual unknown after his freshman year to being a surprise selection to the varsity last year due to hard work in the offseason, said, individually, "I'm trying to work on my mid-post game." Asked what that means, he said it means halfway down the key, between low and high posts.
He's working on his effectiveness 15 feet from the basket.
We haven't seen the outside shooting he displayed in spring and summer games. Right now he seems positioned and confident primarily at the low post on both sides of the paint.
No comments:
Post a Comment