Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

GHS wins regional, falls in state tourney

The Gurdon Go-Devils basketball team beat Mt. Ida, 78-58, in the semi-finals of the 7AA Regional Tournament at Mt. Ida this past week.

That was Friday night action, Feb. 25. They came back Saturday night and beat Nevada, 101-87 in overtime to become the 2005 regional champs.

First-year Coach Bryan Biley took his Go-Devils to the State Tournament at Imboden, where they met their match with Hughes, losing 62-33 in Thursday night action, March 3.

"It was a bad way to end it, but for the first year I felt like they showed me a lot of respect and my hat goes off to our team members," Coach Biley said.

Backing up to the semi-finals, Gurdon went to Mt. Ida and led against them every quarter. The first quarter was 19-16, it was 32-29 at the half, and 55-40 after the third. Again, the final victory was Gurdon, 78, Mt. Ida, 58.

Biley said Jerome Pollins led the scoring with 17 points, Randy Bell had 16, with Cameron Kennedy and Bobby Byrd scoring 15 points each. Kentrell Green scored 11 points.

Coach Biley said, "We played good defense and controlled the tempo of the game. We made smart decisions against Mt. Ida."

The regional victory followed when Saturday night's game against Nevada had the crowd on the edge of their seats. The Gurdon win met they won over the top four teams from each side of the district, the coach said.

The Gurdon/Nevada game at Mt. Ida, Feb. 26, had Gurdon ahead 24-8 after the first quarter, 51-28 at halftime, 64-46 after the third and tied at 80-80 after the fourth quarter of regulation play. Gurdon won in one overtime, 101-87.

Gurdon's Randy Bell led the scoring with 25 points, Kentrell Green scored 22, Bobby Byrd, 19, Jerome Pollins, 18, and Rashad Ritchie, 10 points.

Biley said, "We controlled the tempo of the game except for the last four minutes of regulation. We played well. We got relaxed and got comfortable with the lead, and let them back in the game. Then in overtime, we took care of our business and went on to finish the basketball game."

According to Biley, Gurdon's Randy Bell was selected as Most Valuable Player in the Regional Tournament. Bobby Byrd and Jerome Pollins were selected for the All Region Tournament Team.

Alisha Bell was also selected for the All Region Tournament Team for girls. All four received awards at the tournament.

On Thursday night, March 3, in Imboden, the Go-Devils were defeated in the first round of the state tournament, by Hughes.

Quarter by quarter, Hughes led the game, 16-8, 30-19 at the half, 50-25 after three and won 62-33.

Randy Bell led the Go-Devil scoring with eight points.

Coach Biley said, "We never matched their intensity. My guys were a little intimidated and were never able to play their style of a ball game. We had 20 turnovers. And we did not shoot the ball well. We never got into the flow."

Percentage from the floor was about 30 percent, with the Go-Devils hitting three out of seven free throws.

Of his season, Biley said, "I think my group played hard and well, despite their loss to Hughes. We still finished 25-4 for our overall record."