In the third and final day of the Denair Holiday Classic varsity boys basketball tournament, the Denair (5-8) Coyotes managed to pick up their second win in three days after defeating Millennium on Saturday, 52-47.
Isaac Starks finished with 28 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals. Dylan Mann finished with 17 rebounds.
As a team, Denair committed only 6 turnovers for the game.
“We are definitely improving after every game,” said Denair coach Garett Elliott.
Carson Haringa added 6 points and 7 rebounds along with a crucial late three and Trevor Lovelace added two fourth quarter three-point shots for the go-ahead as the Coyotes rallied on to win their fifth game of the year.
The Coyotes also finished in 3rd place for the tournament.
The next game for Denair will be against Dos Palos at 6 p.m. Dec. 29.
Hilmar boys top Le Grand for seventh preseason win
The Hilmar (7-4) High varsity boys basketball team moved on from Saturday’s tournament Championship loss and followed it with a solid 61-38 road victory over Le Grand on Tuesday night.
“It was a good team effort and game,” said Hilmar head coach Paul Willis. “We worked in practice on shooting the basketball and taking good shots and getting the kick out for a good shot and not taking any bad shots. We took good shots in transition and like I said we shared the ball.”
Alec Cano made 18 of his 20 points for the game in the first quarter alone with Kole Gaglio and Nino Ta-a adding 12 points combined.
Hilmar built a 41-21 lead at halftime with the hot hand early on which allowed Hilmar to extend the court and find open buckets.
“Really we found the hot man in the first which was Cano and from there the team carried us the rest of the way,” said Willis. “We also played really good defense tonight and forced some turnovers and we extended the zone and made easy shots.”
Gaglio finished with 12 points for the game and Xavier Burke added 7 for the game. Ta-a finished with 6 for the game.
The next game for Hilmar will be on the road against Waterford at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
Delhi defeats TC for first win of the season before falling to Summerville
The Delhi (1-8) High varsity boys basketball team followed their first win of the season on Saturday with a loss to Summerville on Tuesday afternoon at home.
Delhi was coming off a solid showing against TC on Saturday and Summerville, off a Hilmar Holiday tournament championship, managed to overcome their lethargic start and defeated Delhi by a score of 73-43.
Chance Browning dropped 25 and Arnold Perez finished with 12 for the Hawks of Delhi but they still failed to overcome the size difference.
Down by eight points at the half, Summerville went on a roll in the second half and defeated Delhi by 30 points.
“We were down by less than double digits at the half and then we just came out flat in the second half,” said Delhi head coach Brian de la Porte. “A lot of it had to do with Summerville’s size and intensity.”
The Hawks next game will be at Ceres High at a time yet to be determined on Dec. 29.