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CHS upsets CV
Bulldogs win crosstown contest, 69-52
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Blane Abeyta (23) and his Ceres High varsity boys basketball teammates provide support from the bench during Fridays crosstown matchup with Central Valley. The Bulldogs won by upset, 69-52. - photo by DALE BUTLER/The Courier

The highly-anticipated matchup between Central Valley's and Ceres High's varsity boys basketball teams took place this past week.

The Bulldogs won the crosstown showdown, 69-52, in front of a large crowd Friday night.

"We came in as underdogs," Ceres High sophomore center Cristian Garcia said. "Nobody expected us to win. I knew we were capable of doing this."

The Bulldogs improved to 6-12 on the year and climbed to third in the Western Athletic Conference standings (3-2).

The loss dropped the 2014-15 WAC-champion Hawks into second place (12-8, 4-1).

Ceres High's Haaydn Martinez made five treys while tallying a game-high 21 points against Central Valley.

Garcia added 14 points, including his third dunk of the season.

Ismael Ontiveros and Nick Jones both contributed nine points.

Austin Stiles, Marcellus Boykins and Blane Abeyta collected eight, five and two points, respectively.
Trevor Nash had one point.

"Everybody is bigger, stronger and faster at the varsity level," Garcia said. "I'm being aggressive and trying to match the physicality."

Gurshan Chahal scored a team-high 16 points for the Hawks. He made three treys.

Harinder Sidhu and Ralph Afortunado both buried three treys and totaled 11 points.

David Glukhovskiy and Jaspreet Singh tallied five points apiece.

Simron Singh chipped in with three points.

Erik Mejia had one point.

Ceres High used a balanced scoring attack to build a 27-21 lead in the opening half.

Martinez, Jones and Stiles had eight, seven and six points, respectively.

Austin soared to the basket for a two-handed jam in the second quarter.

Central Valley faced a 48-26 deficit heading into the final period.

The Bulldogs outscored the Hawks 21-5 in the third quarter. Martinez drained two treys and tallied eight points. Ontiveros, Garcia and Jones added seven, four and two points, respectively.

"I'm really shocked," Glukhovskiy said. "I didn't think it was going to end up like this. They outplayed us. They had more hustle and intensity. We couldn't break their press for some reason. Before the game, we were pumped."

The Bulldogs improved their all-time record versus the Hawks to 9-11.

Ceres High lost the previous five meetings.

Central Valley won its last 17 conference games dating back to the 2013-14 season.

"It's a great feeling," Stiles said. "It's been a while since we've beaten them. To be honest, I was expecting the game to be a lot closer. We stuck together as a team and worked hard."

"I don't think this loss is going to stick with us for that long," Glukhovskiy said. "We just got to focus on the next few games. If we win those, we're back in first place."

The Bulldogs will play at El Capitan on Wednesday and Livingston on Friday.

The Hawks will travel to Patterson today and host El Capitan on Friday.

All four games will get underway at 7:30 p.m.