Brophy 61
Cesar Chavez 54

By Justin Janssen ’11
THE ROUNDUP

Fred Gammage ’12 scored nine of his team-high 12 points in the first quarter and Brophy (19-7) held on for a 61-54 victory Feb. 23 vs. Cesar Chavez (22-6) in the first round of the playoffs.

“We feel lucky and we’re happy to win,” said Brophy head coach Mr. Tony Fuller, who won his first playoff game with Brophy. “It was a little sloppy because of the long layoff, but we’ll take it.”

Brophy had not played since Feb. 11, but they were riding a season-high five game winning streak.

After a highly-contested first quarter, an 11-0 second quarter spurt put Brophy ahead for good, 30-20 with five minutes remaining before halftime.

On the other end of the half, the pace of the game slowed. Chavez outscored the Broncos 9-8 in the quarter.

Brophy’s defense held Cesar Chavez to their second lowest scoring output of the season; the Champions had entered play as the highest scoring team in 5A-I.

In the fourth quarter Chavez started chipping away by pulling to within two points on three different occasions.

Time ran out for Chavez and Brophy hit a couple late free-throws to ice the game.

Garron Scoon ’12 scored eight points off the bench while playing heavy minutes after not receiving much game-action all season.

Sai Tummala ’11 scored seven points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while James Harper ’12 added 10 points, including a highlight-worthy slam dunk.

Jason Williams led the Champions with 13 points, while Kenny Melvin and Alex Worthen-Harris each scored 12.

With the victory, Brophy advances to the quarterfinals to play at North High Feb. 26.

North eliminated the Broncos last season in the first round during their state championship run.