It was a dominate performance by the Yellowjackets Tuesday night when Hilmar High (4-3) traveled to Denair High (1-6) to face the Coyotes. Hilmar, led by Jesse Burke, outscored Denair 74-53. It was Hilmar’s most productive night of the season.

Hilmar’s quick defense and outstanding shooting performance was too much for the Coyotes to handle.

“That’s one of the best shooting performances I’ve seen in a long time,” Denair’s head coach Daniel Rodriguez said. “You can tell we got frustrated.”

Hilmar opened the game up with a three point shot from Burke, a preview of what was to come. By the time the first quarter ended Hilmar had scored 28 points and only missed three of its shots. By halftime the Jackets’ had only missed 12 shots as they led 52-29. Burke finished the game as Hilmar’s lead scorer with 21 points.

“We had a very good first quarter,” Hilmar’s head coach Danny Freitas said. “We usually come out slow, but tonight we were red hot. We’re coming together as a team.”

During the second half Hilmar maintained a consistent lead of 20 or more points and held Denair’s best player, Juan De La Cruz, to 25 points overall.

“De La Cruz is a great player, we tried to face guard him the whole time and see what the rest of the team could do,” Freitas said. “He’s going to get his, but we pretty much contained him.”

Hilmar will look to carry the momentum from Tuesday’s win into the Hilmar Christmas Classic tournament that starts on Thursday. As for Denair, they will begin preparing for the Denair Tournament which also starts Thursday.

To contact Frankie Tovar, e-mail ftovar@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2041.