Gaels Grab Semi Birth

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Gorman uses a stiffling defense to capture 5A Quarterfinal victory. </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>Las Vegas, NV </em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Bishop Gorman Gales hosted the Foothill Falcons in a 5A quarterfinal matchup at the House of Glory. RIght from the start the Gaels defense took control, as they went on a 14-3 run finishing the first quarter with a 17-7 lead. The lead grew to as much 15, until the Falcons made a run behind the shooting of freshman [player_tooltip player_id='2352170' first='Cordet' last='Espinoza'], and Senior [player_tooltip player_id='1325507' first='Chris' last='Natale Jr'] at half, Foothill got it down to 13. The second half was all Gorman though, as the Gaels pulled away behind the scoring of [player_tooltip player_id='1511462' first='Jett' last='Washington'] and playmaking of [player_tooltip player_id='986960' first='Nick' last='Jefferson']. Here's a look at our takeaways from the event. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Who is [player_tooltip player_id='2352170' first='Cordet' last='Espinoza']?</strong> - According to the stats, this man averaged less than two points per game. He trippled that output in a matter of minutes. His corner three point shooting ability was huge in keeping the Falcons attached in the 1st half as he made three, with two of them counting. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Learn the name [player_tooltip player_id='2047786' first='Kameron' last='Cooper']</strong> - The Gorman freshman responded with some strong shooting of his own. Cooper knocked in multiple run stopping corner threes, to keep separation. Defensively he manned the interior defending and rebounding at a winning level. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Freshman fest</strong> - Overall it was a 2027 showcase as in addition to Cooper and Espinoza, freshmen [player_tooltip player_id='2086139' first='Tyler' last='Johnson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1965274' first='Ilan' last='Nikolov'] also hade huge contributions. The former defending and finding effort buckets. The later knocked down several key threes. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='986970' first='Zak' last='Abdalla'] is a fighter </strong>- Easy to play hard when your up. The superstar scorer left it all out on the floor. Abdalla faced straight man, double teams, and junk defenses, yet he still finished with 21 points. When he wasn't scoring he brought his own defense to the party, finishing the game with 4 steals. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->