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Godinez players and coaches celebrate after clinching the league title Friday night. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
It’s turned out to be a special ending for Godinez High School’s boys basketball team in the Golden West League.
The Grizzlies held off a fourth quarter rally by Westminster Friday night to capture a 56-52 victory in front of their home fans to clinch at least a share of the league title, the first for the program since 2017 and the third overall. It’s the last year for the Golden West League and Godinez will be in a new league next year.
Godinez had what appeared to be a comfortable 47-38 lead going into the fourth quarter but Westminster battled back to cut the lead to two points with 1:30 left.
However, Godinez responded with some big stops and baskets down the stretch and sealed the win when Israel Moreno sank one of two free throws with three seconds left to give Godinez a four-point lead.
Then, the Grizzlies (20-6, 8-0) celebrated with their fans, marking the comeback of a program which was 4-24 and 0-10 in league during the 2021-22 season. Godinez still has two more league games next week and has a two-game lead over Westminster.
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Seniors Lucas Andaluz and Adrian Gonzalez each had 15 points to lead Godinez.
There was plenty of emotion among Godinez players and coaches after the game.
“Lucas going through two years ago, when we had zero league wins,” said Godinez Coach Robert Morgan. “And then last year I remember him getting our first league win and he ran into the stands and hugged his mom because that was such a great memory for him that he got a league win and just the fact that we’ve had such a difficult time in this league.
“We’ve never won a league championship in this league, the last one we one was an Orange Coast League championship so I think was just huge to come away with this thing. All the support was amazing, we had previous players here, we had parents and we had a senior night. Everyone had a great time tonight.”
Andaluz was emotional, hugging family members including his mother and father and friends. It was clear how much the win meant to him.
“It just feels incredible,” Andaluz said. “Two years ago, I went 0-10 in league and we completely flipped the script, we did amazing. It was a team effort. It just feels unbelievable. We still got two more, we’re still not done, we’re trying to go 10-0 for the first time I think in 10 years, but it just feels incredible and I’m on cloud nine right now.
“We played incredible defense, even though they made that comeback, we still kept fighting, we didn’t lose our motivation and our energy, it was just amazing.”
Sophomore Jaiden Torres added 10 points and Moreno seven points for Godinez.
Coach CJ Hollingsworth’s Lions(13-9, 6-2) needed a win to keep their league title hopes alive. The Lions look like they will finish in second place in league and also advance to the CIF playoffs.
Sophomore Kam Johnson scored 16 points, all in the second half to keep the Lions in the game until the end. Eric Hoang added 12 points for Westminster.
Godinez players will remember their senior night for some time.
“We love the support and we love the energy, we wish we could have every game like this, it’s an amazing feeling,” Andaluz said.
Godinez was ranked third and Westminster seventh in this week’s CIF 5AA polls.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
