Gavilan College alum Adrian Zamora rebounds, joins Mexico

By Jim Seimas | jseimas@santacruzsentinel.com

Basketball player Adrian Zamora knows a thing or two about being knocked to the floor. He also knows about picking himself back up and regrouping.

His ability to do so helped the 6-foot-9, 240-pound center out of Watsonville make Mexico's squad that will compete in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, which runs Aug. 30 through Sept. 14 in Spain.

Zamora, a 27-year-old who played at Gavilan College and Montana State, overcame a pair of injuries prior to tryouts.

"The day I found out I made the final roster, I was excited, relieved, felt blessed, lucky, and very grateful," Zamora wrote in an email Wednesday from Spain. "It's exciting to be able to play against the best teams in the world."

Mexico — headlined by ex-NBA center Gustavo Ayan and Brooklyn Nets point guard Jorge Gutierrez — will compete in Group D with Angola, Australia, Korea, Lithuania and Slovenia in the 24-nation event.

The United States, FIBA's No. 1-ranked team, competes in Group C. All 17 U.S. players are members of NBA squads.

The group phase will be played in Bilbao, Gran Canaria, Granada and Sevilla. The final phase, which begins Sept. 6, takes place in the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona and in the Palacio de los Deportes in Madrid.

"Twenty-four of the world's best teams competing for one cup," Zamora wrote. "It doesn't get more exciting than that if you love basketball. Mexico hasn't made it to the world cup for basketball in over 40 years, so I feel very blessed to be a part of this team."

Zamora survived a 27-player, invite-only tryout to make Mexico's squad for the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

"It was a very tough competition for me," Zamora said. "The day after I got home from my season (with Halcones Rojos de Veracruz, a professional team in Mexico), I was rushed into the Watsonville emergency room for an appendectomy surgery."

The surgery prevented Zamora from training for a month. And to make matters worse, a week after he was medically cleared to start training, he fell and split his knee open, requiring 14 stitches.

"Three days after my stitches I got the call to report to Mexico City within a week for the tryout," Zamora wrote. "As you can imagine, I was super bummed out, knowing that I had not trained as much as I wanted to in the two months leading up to the tryout."

Zamora asked Mexican team officials for a two-day extension on his July 15 report date, to get his stitches removed.

It was approved and Zamora showed enough talent and resolve to make the squad.

"Training was tough, but two months later I made the final roster for the world games," Zamora said. "The two months were tough and stressful. People were getting cut every other day."

Zamora first played with the Mexico's national team in 2010.

Earlier this month, he helped Mexico go 6-0 at the Centrobasket Championship, including a 74-60 win over Puerto Rico in the title game, in Tepic, Naharit. Zamora finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds in six games.

Zamora has played for several professional teams in Mexico. In the National Professional Basketball League, he played for the Mexicali Soles, Xalapa Halcones and Tampico Huracanes. He has also played for the Culiacán Caballeros and Tijuana Zonkeys in the Basketball Circuit of the Pacific Coast.

"His ball skills are really good for a big guy," said James Gomez, an assistant coach under Bob Linney when Zamora played at Watsonville High. "He has guard skills for a big man."

Zamora, who has added 40 pounds of muscle since he was in high school, returns to Watsonville in the offseason and frequently trains at his alma mater and the YMCA.

Brad Huse, who coached Zamora at Montana State during the 2006-07 and '07-'08 seasons, said Zamora stayed an extra year in Bozeman to finish his degree — and add to his frame.

"He weight-trained hard ... and, over the course of that year, you could see a difference," said Huse, who described Zamora as a quiet, yet hard worker.

"He developed a lot from his junior to his senior year," Huse added. "But even then, you knew he would develop a lot more."

"They got a good player," Linney said. "He's a great teammate. The kids at Watsonville always looked up to him. He was kind of shy back then. He never thought he was that good, it was one of those things that drove him to be better. All the kids were like, 'He's the best player ever.' All they wanted to do was throw the ball to Adrian.

"He's made himself such a better player since high school and that's all on Adrian. He was very coachable. We're very proud of him."

Sentinel staff writer Andrew Matheson contributed to this report.