Both teams resume tourney play this week
December is a busy time for high school basketball teams, and that’s definitely the case this month for Analy and El Molino.
The Lions and Tigers kicked off the holiday tournament schedule last week with participation in a couple of area tourneys, as the Lions took the court in the Sutter Home Classic in St. Helena, while the Tigers ventured north to Ukiah for the Fred Iten Tournament.
Analy took one of three at the Iten tourney, scoring an exciting 60-50 win over Petaluma in double overtime before dropping games to San Lorenzo (50-47) and Windsor (62-42). Leading scorers for the Tigers included JJ Fain, Quinn Vermuelan and Avi Gitlin.
“It was a good learning experience for the team,” Analy coach Jason Carpenter reported. “The competition does not get any easier going forward.”
This week, the Tigers (2-2) will head south to San Anselmo for the annual Red Brown Classic at Drake on Dec. 5-8, opening up on Dec. 5 against Lincoln.
Meanwhile, the Lions (3-2) logged a very busy week on the preseason schedule, starting on Nov. 27 with a 52-37 loss to visiting Justin Siena. Thomas Siegert led the attack with 12 points.
El Mo opened the Sutter Home tourney on Nov. 29 with a 77-50 loss to eventual champion Fortuna. Chase Nicholls scored a team-leading eight points.
The Lions were back in the win column on Nov. 30, soundly defeating John Swett, 58-49. Leading scorers were Nicholls (12), Sam Wilson-Mietz (10), Aaron Daniels (9) and Siegert (9).
El Mo carried the momentum into Saturday’s Consolation Championship game against Rincon Valley Christian, defeating the Eagles, 52-39. Pacing the offense were Logan Woolsey (10), Nicholls (9) and Chris Romeo (7).
Nicholls was named to the all-tourney team for the Lions.
Next up for El Molino is participation in the 70th annual Redwood Empire Invitational Basketball Tournament in Healdsburg on Dec. 5-8.
“As a coach, I love having a group of guys who make it difficult for me to determine who should be on the court because of how hard they’ve worked,” El Mo coach Collin Walker said. “So far, they’ve all shown me that they are deserving of minutes. Despite two losses, our defense has been very good as well.”
