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The boys varsity
team played 15
games in past month
BY STEVE HALL
The Avalon Boys Varsity
Basketball Team has been pre-
paring for their upcoming league
schedule by playing against tough
competition in the preseason.
The Lancers have survived this
difficult part of their schedule
and hopefully have improved by
acquiring many of the skills that
their opponents have displayed
against them.
Avalon has played 15 games in
the past month and has been able
to observe what many successful
programs do to be successful.
After traveling to Hesperia,
California the Lancers returned
home to host the 23rd Annual
Catalina Classic from Dec. 18 to
Dec. 20.
The Lancers did not win the
tournament but they did compete
well, winning two games and los-
ing two games. In game 1 of the
tournament, the Lancers fell to
Vaughn High School by a score
of 69-57.
From page 4
New Year's Eve event at the Casino
was up from prior year (525 plus
band and volunteers), even after
the storm.
"We had only seven unclaimed
reservations and two cancellations.
We were contacted by a private
6i~ater brifiging a gr~up~of 'ten
people and encouraged them: to
travel by Catalina Express instead.
Stores/restaurants on (Crescent
Avenue) were closed for much of
the6 day so no doubt some lost rev-
enue resulted?'
The Avalon Lancers Boys Varsity Basketball team and Coach Steve Hall.
(Photo courtesy Steve Hall)
The Lancers were led by
Danny Jimenez with 16 points,
Oscar Bastida with 14 points, and
Eduardo Pedroza with 10 points.
The Lancers had too many turn-
overs and appeared a bit nervous
playing before their home crowd
for the first time this year. In fact
the Lancers have played 40 of
their last 60 games on the road
over the past 3 seasons and seem
to have forgotten what a home
court advantage can really do for
a team.
Hopefully we can get that island
pride back this season. In game 2
on Friday evening, Dec. 19, against
Wildwood, the Lancers came out
less nervous and more animated,
ready to inspire the crowd with
their quality play and came away
with a 57-37 victory. The Lancers
played much better on defense
:and reMueed their :turnovers and
mistakes. DaQny Jimenez led all
scores with i9 points. Harrison
Hobbs added 9 points to the cause
and Emmanuel Amezcua contrib-
uted 8 points to lead Avalon to the
victory. The crowd got into the
game and everyone came away
excited, especially the team which
now realizes the value of estab-
lishing a home court advantage. If
we can play with effort and emo-
tion at home our fans will support
us with positive noise and energy.
In game 3 of the tournament,
on Saturday morning, the Lancers
faced San Pedro High School. The
Lancers played toe to toe for 2 and
half quarters with this Division 1
school but didn't have the horses
to finish the race.
The Lancers fought until the
end but ultimately lost 58-46. They
were outscored 14-5 in the 3rd
quarter and that's where the game
was lost. Danny Jimenez led the
team in scoring with 18 points. In
the final game of the tournament
the Lancers played for the conso-
lation and came away with the vic-
tory against Wildwood. Avalon's
offense is beginniag to improve as
they outscored the Huskies 67-46.
Danny Jimenez had 21 points and
earned an All Tournament trophy
for his outstanding play through-
out the tournament.
Oscar Bastida added 15 points
and Ernesto Gomez had 9 points
and 8 rebounds.
The Lancers took a day off and
got right back to work on Monday,
Dec. 22nd against AGBU at home.
Avalon played lethargic but never
gave up.
They led for the first 3 quarters
but surrendered that lead in the
4th quarter, only to win at the end
by a score of 45-42. Emmanuel
Amezcua was the hero in this
one, draining a 3 pointer with 10
seconds remaining to put Avalon
up by 2 points. Danny Jimenez
led the Lancers in scoring with
19 points.
The following day Avalon got
on a boat and traveled to Encino,
California to face long time rival
Holy Martyrs.
This was Avalon's sixth game
in six days. The Lancers played
poorly against a good team. The
final score was 56-28 and the
game exposed some of our weak-
nesses: rebounding, transition
defense and verbal communica-
tion. These are areas that can be
improved with more focus and
attention to the task.
The Lancers took a week off
from games and began to work on
these weaknesses in practice.
Then on Monday, Dec. 29, we
boarded the Catalina Express and
got in our vehicles to travel to
Vista. to play in the Tri City
Christian Holiday Classic, a three-
-day tournament.
On day 1 the Lancers played
poorly against a quality team and
suffered a 65-29 loss. Playing with-
out much effort and little cohe-
siveness, the Lancers seemed like
a dejected bunch after the game.
However, basketball is a long sea-
son and the competition has been
pretty tough thus far. The impor-
tant thing is that the players care
and have a lot of heart.
In game 2 of the tournament
that heart and desire began to
show and Avalon played their
best 4 quarters of basketball this
season and emerged victorious
against Kern Valley by a score of
50-48. Danny Jimenez went down
with an injury for most of the
game but Ernesto Gomez came
to the rescue, scoring 25 points,
grabbing 10 rebounds, blocking 2
shots, and garnering 4 steals. He
was all over the court playing a
game for the ages.
Later the same day Avalon
faced Heritage Christian and
lost in a defensive thriller 41-39.
Jimenez led all scores with 16
points, while Oscar Bastida and
Ernesto Gomez added 8 points to
the cause. Miguel Bonilla drained
two important 3 point shots for
Avalon in the 3rd quarter to ignite
a rally. This was a quality loss
since Heritage is a pretty good
team.
In game 4 of the tourna-
ment Avalon faced ECHS and
the Lancers showed that they are
an improved team and just about
ready for league competition,
which begins on Friday, Jan. 16th
at Southlands Christian. In this
game Avalon faced an inferior
opponent but did not play down to
their level and came away with a
53-31 victory.
This was a total team effort with
many players scoring. Eduardo
Pedroza led all scores with 11
points, while Miguel Bonilla and
Danny Jimenezl added 9 points
and Julio Hernandez contributed 8
points to the cause. Oscar Bastida
added 6 points and aggressive
defense to the team effort, Lefty
Adam Fultz found success driving
hard to the basket.
This was a wonderful tour-
nament which provided us with
good, fair competition. We were
Lancers, Page 7
714-546-2020
For a Saturday clinic
appointment at EIMC.
O GE COAST
center
6 Friday, January 9, 2015 THE CATALINA ISLANDER