Sandy » There were no elaborate adjustments made in the Juan Diego locker room on Friday night against Waterford.
There were no schematic changes made either. There was only the urging for the Soaring Eagle to intensify its defensive effort. That and to go out and score the basketball.
And that's exactly what Juan Diego did.
By limiting the Ravens to a single bucket in the third quarter, and by using a 7-2 run to close out the period, No. 4 Juan Diego stunned top-seeded Waterford 46-34 to advance to the second round of the Class 3A playoffs.
With the victory, which came before a standing-room-only crowd at Waterford, the Soaring Eagle advanced to the quarterfinal round, where it will meet Hurricane on Thursday at the E Center.
"We emphasize defense when we play," Juan Diego coach Sonny Tangaro said. "We came in here and we had a good gameplan. We played them in the preseason and we lost to them so we've seen them before."
On Friday night, the Soaring Eagle locked down on defense and rode the scoring efforts of Pablo Coro to a convincing win.
Coro, who missed a good portion of the beginning of the season due to ineligibility, scored a game-high 16 points, with many of them coming on jumpers or on drives to the basket.
The senior from Chile was the one player in the game that had the ability to get his shot anytime he wanted, and whenever his team needed a hoop, he was there to provide it.
"I made a couple of easy shots early," Coro said. "After that I just wanted to stay aggressive. We knew that we had to play good defense. We thought that if we were able to play good defense, we would win the game. That's what happened."
The breaking point, and what what won the game for Juan Diego, was a 7-2 run to end the third quarter. The spurt gave the Soaring Eagle separation, and Waterford was unable to counter because the Ravens simply couldn't score.
Much of that credit was how well Juan Diego played Neil Monson, the 6-foot-10 junior and one of the best big men in the state.
In holding Monson to nine points, the Soaring Eagle showed him different looks, from all-out double teams, to double teaming on the dribble, to denying him the ball. In fact, Monson was pretty much limited to toiling on the perimeter because he was unable to establish position inside and score.
Defense » Juan Diego holds Waterford to a single basket in the third quarter.
Top scorer » Pablo Coro scores a game-high 16 points to lead the Soaring Eagle.
Moving on » Juan Diego, with the win, advances to the Class 3A quarterfinals.
