Turlock Christian varsity boys basketball head coach Travis Thompson said the team’s hard work is finally paying off after the Eagles ended their league losing streak by picking up their first Central California Athletic Alliance victory of the season on Thursday over Stone Ridge Christian, 76-15.
“This is a big win. We played some other teams close in league; if a couple of other possessions went our way then we could have a different record,” said Thompson. “But the boys are coming to work every day and buying into it and that is what we want, a group of kids that are coachable. It’s good to finally get that league win and get the monkey off our back.”
Prior to Thursday’s win, TC had lost four consecutive CCAA games.
They finally picked up their first win in league after an effective night that saw Zack Silva return to the court. Silva was effective at the point guard position and as an all-around work horse, while four of his teammates were able to notch double digit scores.
Ethan Fisher finished with a game-high 22 points while teammates Josh Comfort and Micah Blomenkamp each added 12 points. Gideon Hoag added 10 points for the game.
A total of 10 players scored for the Eagles who defeated SRC, 81-24, back on Dec. 29.
After the win, TC is 8-10 overall and 1-4 in the CCAA.
“We ran like we wanted to and had great ball movement. We expected a big win like this. It is a big confidence booster for our team,” said Thompson. “Having Silva back is huge, and he does so many good things for us and it is good to be healthy in league since we dealt with some adversity early on and to be able to be battle tested and see what we are made up of.”
On Thursday, the Eagles came out firing away and allowed SRC to score just nine points by the end of the first while they added 34.
At halftime, TC led 52-14. From there, TC’s defense allowed just one point in the third and fourth quarter combined.
“We played them earlier this year and we knew what they were going to do, so we scouted them well and the boys came out and executed,” said Thompson. “We get to see where we are at and I love the spirit of our boys since we want to prepare them to be better men.”
TC outscored SRC in the second half, 24-1.
The next goal for the Eagles is to continue the team’s progress and stay healthy.
“We hope Silva is good; he seems healthy and we want to stay healthy because when we do, we do a lot of great things as a team. We’re trying to change the culture of me to, we. It is good to have them buy into it at 16, 17 and 18-year olds, it’s a good thing,” Thompson added.
TC will next take on Big Valley Christian from the CSU Stanislaus gym at 8 p.m. Saturday.
