Hancock’s men’s basketball needed a spark on Tuesday afternoon against Cypress College.
The Bulldogs saw two of their starters foul out late in the second half and a third player leave with a busted nose.
So, sophomore point guard Arlind Konjuhi decided he needed to take the game into his own hands.
“I knew we needed that spark to get it going since we were in the middle of a dry spell,” Konjuhi said.
Konjuhi scored 25 of his game-high 27 points in the second half, and hit a pair of clutch 3-pointers from the corner in the final five minutes to give Allan Hancock a 65-58 win.
His coach just had one word to describe him.
“He’s a gamer,” Bulldogs coach Tyson Aye said. “He lives for stuff like that.”
Konjuhi isn’t new to big games.
After moving from Anchorage, Alaska to Houston when he was 12 he played fort Cy-Fair High School before playing internationally for the Kosovoan U20 National Team.
Hancock guard Trenton Lavander drives to the basket against Cypress College.
Ryan Kuhn, Staff
“Playing for my country was the biggest honor I’ve had thus far,” Konjuhi said. “There’s a lot of elite competition out there.”
He was also a first team all-Western State Conference guard last season for Hancock.
Konjuhi was held until the final minute of the first half to score his first bucket and it didn’t seem like anyone could get into a rhythm.
Both teams battled through a low scoring first half with Cypress getting a slight edge.
The Chargers held a 15-7 lead 10 minutes into the game when Jack Rivera hit a jump shot but the Bulldogs never let their deficit get too great.
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“We didn’t play very well but we showed resilience and showed that this is a team that cares for one another,” Aye said.
Trenton Lavender hit a couple of free throws to cut the game down to four points and later in the half Daiso Gonzalez hit a baseline jump shot to cut Cypress’ lead down to three points.
After a dismal 32 percent shooting from the field and 20 percent shooting from behind the 3-point arc, the Bulldogs entered halftime in a manageable 30-25 hole.
“We faced some adversity but we handled it well.” Konjuhi said.
Cypress continued to hold onto its lead throughout the second half even though Allan Hancock kept answering on the other end of the court.
The Chargers thought they would create some space when Rivera hit his sixth 3-pointer of the game but on the other end of the court Konjuhi started to take control.
Konjuhi scored nine straight points for Hancock to come within a point with six minutes to go and finally took the lead for the first time since the opening three minutes with a 3-pointer in the corner with 4:50 left.
Cypress tied the game in the final two minutes but again Konjuhi hit another 3-pointer this time from the other corner.
“I was just trying to give my team the lead,” Konjuhi said with a smile. “I’m just glad it went in.”
Hancock never relinquished its lead for the remaining 1:50 and eventually the team let out a big sigh of relief and celebrated the win.
“This was big win because we were having some doubts earlier in the game,” Konjuhi said. “We really pushed through and stayed focused.”
Along with Konjuhi, Lavender scored 12 points before fouling out and Gonzalez finished with 11 points.
Adam Silmon left the game in the second half with a bloody nose.
While Western State Conference play begins Jan. 7 with a home game against Oxnard College, the Bulldogs will travel to Lemoore College just outside of Hanford for their final non-conference test.
“They are a very talented team,” Aye said of Lemoore. “We need to remain focused.”