For the seniors of the men’s basketball team, this was not an easy ending.

With a berth to the NCS championship and a trip to the Nor Cal tournament on the line, Cal fell to De La Salle, 66-50, on Feb. 28 at St. Mary’s College.

Cal (22-6 overall, 10-2 EBAL) was down 20-2 after the first quarter and never regained its footing.

“Everything we did, they knew exactly how to counter it,” said senior Javier Valverde.

Despite grumbling from fans and players, head coach Cary Willson didn’t mind the fact that his team only got a single day to prepare for the game.

“It is what it is,” said Willson

Senior Maris Moore led the team with nine points.

The Grizzlies earned a trip to the NCS semifinals by disposing Newark Memorial, 50-31, on Feb. 26. The game was moved to two days before the semifinals because of a scheduling conflict with the NCS Wrestling Championships.

Junior David Gory was a force inside scoring a game high 14 points for the Grizzlies.

Trailing 8-6 after the first quarter, Cal did not let Newark score again until after half. Cal led 21-8 at the break.

Seniors Chris Goutama and Brandon Barreras provided excellent guard play by chipping in 10 points each.

Cal earned the No. 4 seed, a first round bye and a 10-day layoff after sharing the EBAL league title with Monte Vista and Foothill.

“We've had some tough practices, with some blood shed, some harsh words and all that stuff,”said David.

Cal secured their share of the league title Feb. 16 by defeating Granada, 55-49. Seniors Josh Slaats and Brandon Barreras paced the Grizzlies with 12 and 11 points respectively.

After missing the front end of his free throws, Brandon went on to make eight-straight free throws without even touching the net. David also chipped in 10 points.

Against Amador Valley on Feb. 14, the Grizzlies locked up an undefeated league record at home on senior night with a 55-51 victory.

Battling a tall Dons team as well as poor shooting, Cal trailed by six heading into the fourth quarter. From there it was Josh who with two three-point shots, ignited Cal’s 19-9 fourth quarter run.

Cal ’s hopes were nearly crushed when they squeaked out a 65-64 win at San Ramon Valley on Feb. 12.

Despite leading most of the way, San Ramon forged a furious comeback in the fourth-quarter. With under two-minutes to play, San Ramon took the lead. With less than one-second left, Cal inbounded to junior Sean Downes who banked a shot in at the buzzer.

The game most would like to forget is the 71-46 drubbing Foothill gave Cal on Feb. 6. Foothill controlled the tempo the entire game, forcing Cal to throw multiple turnovers.