A second half charge paced the Cordova High School boys basketball team to a 55-51 win over El Dorado in a Sierra Valley Conference game on Feb. 4th.

Trailing 31-21 at halftime in its Senior Night home game, Cordova (7-2 in the SVC, 15-11 overall) came out in the second half with displaying defensive looks; from running a zone to man-to-man sets. The result had the Cougars outscoring the visiting Cougars by an 18-9 margin to cut El Dorado’s lead to 40-39.

“We got off to a slow start (in the first half),” said Cordova head coach Fletcher Johnson. “We mixed up between man and zone and just got after it.”

Then in the fourth quarter, Cordova guard Damion Baldwin and forward DeAnte Wilkins, each of whom scored in double digits in the game, led the offensive charge, as the Lancers had a 16-11 advantage and win. Baldwin was the Lancers’ leading scorer with 15 points and Wilkins followed with 13.

The backcourt had more contributions for the Lancers, as guard Jason Novik followed with seven points and Kyle Lorena five. Ben Danielyan was next with four points, William Moore and Najee Clark three each, Joseph Gomez and DeReginald Walker two each and Mike Brown one.

Lancers seniors who were honored with their families on Senior Night were Baldwin, Wilkins, John Pacholski, Lorena, Gomez, Danielyan, Moore, Devin Baldwin, Eric Shin and Walker.

Cordova 50, Union Mine 40

In an SVC road game at El Dorado on Feb. 2nd, the visiting Lancers and host Diamondbacks got off to a rocky start in the first half. Both teams’ defense and limited offensive shots led to Union Mine hanging onto a 17-13 lead.

But in the fourth quarter, with Union Mine still ahead 29-28, Cordova outscored the D’backs by a 22-15 margin that led to another conference win.

Damion Baldwin and Wilkins were the shooting stars again for the Lancers, as they scored 13 points each. Angel Garcia followed with six points, Danielyan five, Gomez and Novik four each, Slavik Demchyk and Walker two each and Brown one. Union Mine’s Albert Garcia led his team with 12 points and Andrew Vaughn eight.

Last night, Thursday, the Lancers closed out the SVC and regular season at Rosemont.

The Sac-Joaquin Section will release playoff brackets middle of next week. To see who Cordova plays in the first round, visit the section’s Website at www.cifsjs.org.