Two games into Central California Athletic League play, two double-doubles for Pitman senior forward Justin Anderson. His latest against the Knights of Downey (Modesto) on Friday night helped the Pride earn a 52-37 victory over their league foe.
After the first quarter, Anderson was already leading the way with six points and five rebounds, making three of his five shots. By halftime, where the Pride led 29-12, he had eight boards, most coming on the defensive end as Downey made 5 of just 16 attempts through the first two quarters.
It was the story of the night for Downey, who were without top scorer Reuben Lewis, who was sidelined with an injury. Lewis was averaging over 20 points per game.
“When you lose your best player, especially after they played 12 or 13 games with him, and then all of a sudden you have to play without him, that's a big adjustment for the players and the coaches,” said Pitman head coach Harvey Marable.
The Knights were still able to receive solid performances from Jayden Coehlo and Collin Eden. Coehlo scored 17 points while Eden pitched in with 10.
As for the Pride, they were 19 for 43 from the field by game’s end - a 44% shooting percentage. Anderson finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Of his eight made field goals, seven were in the paint, He drew fouls on three other attempts.
Being physical under the rim is something Anderson wanted to emphasize heading into his senior year.
“One thing I've been working on this whole season is getting boards, crashing hard, seeking the ball, and I guess they were just going my way there,” he said.
Marable has been impressed with Anderson’s play through the first two games of CCAL competition, and hopes it can continue through the rest of the year.
“It's nice to see this because I felt like one of our weak points is rebounding,” Marable said. “But I think that's what we're going to be getting the rest of the season. I want it to continue from [Justin] because he has the skill set to make that an every game thing.”
Also scoring in double figures for Pitman was junior guard Avery Sanchez and sophomore forward Cole Martin, as they scored 11 and 15 points, respectively.
Sanchez scored his 11 despite drawing extra attention from Downey defenders. Anderson felt as if their defensive approach to limiting Sanchez opened up the scoring for him and Martin.
“It was pretty easy when they're playing a box-one on Avery. It opens up the floor a lot more and gives us a lot of options. And we got a lot of people who can score the ball,” he explained.
While all teams in all sports hope to win every game, Anderson and Marable both felt as if Friday’s game carried significant importance as it was their only home game through the first six league games of the season.
“We understood that this is a little bit more important of a game because of all the away games… It's really important that we get it done at home,” Anderson said.
Their next road trip is a bit of a shorter one, though, as they will take the drive across town to take on the Turlock Bulldogs at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bulldog Arena. The Bulldogs fell to Gregori 62-57 on Friday night, dropping to 1-1 in CCAL. Meanwhile, the Pride’s win over the Knights has them riding high with a 2-0 league record.
When the two Turlock teams get together in pretty much any sport, it is almost guaranteed to draw a large crowd. Nevertheless, Marable sees it as just another game on their road to what they hope leads to a CCAL crown.
“You know what this next game is? This next game, to me, is game number three,” Marable said. “I have no special desire to raise the roof on our rival. I'll leave that to other people to do. The only thing we need to do is take it one game at a time.”
