ELK GROVE — When longtime Davis High boys basketball coach Dan Gonzalez sat down with collegiate Hall of Fame mentor Gary Smith six weeks before this basketball season began, folks in Devilville could sense something was in the air.

A new style of ball was being considered.

Suddenly, from the ashes of a defense-minded scheme that struggled to get points, rose a phoenix raining shots from all angles — especially from a land beyond the arc from which success shooting is rewarded with bonus points.

Called The System, Smith had used the scheme successfully at the University of Redlands, one season averaging more than 120 points a game.

Gonzalez listened to Smith’s pitch, looked around at a passel of guards gathering like robins for a worm and said “Why not?”

Twenty-three games into the season, the Blue Devils are 13-10, averaging 83 points a game (the most in California) and have a three-game winning streak — punctuated by a 104-66 win at Laguna Creek on Friday — putting them back in contention for a playoff berth.

When Gonzalez put The System in, he was told by Smith, “It will take much of the season for the kids to pick it up, but when they do …”

Friday’s 38-point Delta Valley Conference rout of the Cardinals felt like the moment both coaches had been planning for.

“We’ve been kinda waiting for all the pieces to come together like that,” Gonzalez said after the big win. “We’ve been shooting low percentages. We knew it was in us; we’ve been working on that … and, yeah, that’s how it’s supposed to work.”

Hitting 38-of-86 shots from the field (44 percent), DHS (4-3 DVC) was never in trouble as Elvis Bikoba was centered and magic from beyond the arc.

Scoring a career-high 27 points, Bikoba was 9-for-17 shooting — all 3-point baskets.

The Devils jumped out to a 13-4 lead after three minutes as Hayden Russell canned a trey off a Patrick Barrientes assist, Bikoba followed with the first of his bombs and was encored by Ilanko Nataraajan’s rebound put-back, which necessitated an early Laguna Creek time-out.

Davis’ Brandon Strong provided an exclamation point to an almost-perfect first eight minutes when he took a Bryan Hensley pass and stroked another three at the buzzer, putting his team up 27-9 after one period.

For the night, the Blue Devils were 22-of-48 from TreyLand.

DHS went on to a 51-27 halftime advantage, then led by as many as 41 in the fourth quarter. Fittingly, it was the senior Bikoba’s triple with 2:23 left that gave the locals their fourth 100-point game of the season.

“Elvis was out of his mind shooting (Friday),” Gonzalez said, reminding fans: “We have so many different players that can put up big numbers.”

But in this shoot-and-crash, devil-may-care offense, it takes a village, and Bikoba had a strong supporting cast.

Junior Russell had 11 points, made some strong moves inside and finished with three assists and four boards. Senior co-captain Tyler Sousa was 6-of-9 from the floor for 16 points. He added five boards and two steals. Sophomore Strong — called up from junior varsity two weeks ago — hit five treys for 15 points. He also contributed two assists, a steal and a block.

Inside, it was no-man’s land for the Laguna Creek bigs as DHS’ Kevin Sorensen, Grant Dickerson and Jack Yoder made life difficult for the opposition.

Sorensen scored 10 points — with two baskets of the acrobatic variety — snatched seven rebounds and has three assists.

Dickerson had seven boards and two steals to go with six points and Yoder, coming back strong from shin splints, had seven rebounds and two steals.

“I thought Grant played well. I challenged Grant to start rebounding last game and he had a great first half,” Gonzalez said. “Team is the most important thing in basketball, and (we’re) certainly buying into it.”

The Cardinals (10-13, 3-4), 93-82 losers earlier this season to DHS, were led by 21 points from Shaq Cornelius and 10 apiece from Frank Obi, Barry Ogalue and Ladarius Biggers.

Davis has a bye Wednesday and will play next on Friday against Monterey Trail (6-18, 2-5 in DVC) on Break the Record Night. Game time is 8 p.m. with the Lady Blue Devils playing at 6:30 p.m.

Notes: DHS dropped a 64-61 decision to The Trail on Jan. 20 — clearly a game the Devils would like to take as a Mulligan. … Daniel Bonetti and Kris Mackewicz played strong inside in limited minutes. The 6-foot-7 Bonetti redirected two Cardinal shots, pulled two boards in and scored a bucket. Mackewicz kept a couple of offense misses alive for DHS and corralled three rebounds. Arnell Rusanganwa hit two of his 3-point tries and Nataraajan dished out five assists and had four rebounds to go with his first-period bucket. … From the Playoff Department: Ranked 23^rd in the latest CIF D-I ratings, Davis needs to finish in the top 16 to make the postseason. The Blue Devils got some help this past week. Pittman (ranked 13^th) suffered a loss and six others in positions 14 to 22 also dropped games. The next rankings come out Monday, and brackets are decided Sunday, Feb. 19.

— Reach Bruce Gallaudet at [email protected] or (530) 747-8047.

0205bikobaW

DHS sharpshooter Elvis Bikoba nails a 3-pointer in front of the Blue Devil bench on Saturday at Laguna Creek. Bikoba made nine treys to help Davis blow out the Cardinals, 104-66. Wendy Yoder/Courtesy photo

Comments

comments