The Analy and El Molino varsity basketball teams suffered a similar fate in a pair of high school tournaments on Dec. 12-14, each claiming one win in three games.
The Flying Tigers ventured south to the Red Brown Classic at Drake High in San Anselmo, opening up with a 55-44 win over Washington before falling in subsequent games to Drake (44-41) and Terra Linda.
Analy’s Dec. 12 win over Washington was arguably one of their best outings of the season, putting together a complete game to post an 11-point win.
The victory set up a Friday night clash with host Drake, again turning in an outstanding performance against a strong Pirates squad, only to fall, 44-41.
“We played our best game of the year against a talented Drake team and came up one basket short,” Tigers’ coach Jason Carpenter reported.
The loss propelled Analy into the third place game against Terra Linda, but the team seemed to run out of gas in a close loss to the Trojans.
“We were mentally and physically exhausted,” Carpenter said. “Terra Linda played very well, but we were flat, and the result was a loss to a team that we would normally beat.”
Sage Boek was named to the all-tournament squad for the second straight week.
The Tigers (5-4) will compete in the annual Brett Callan Tournament at Casa Grande High School in Petaluma on Dec. 19-21.
Lions beat Kelseyville
Meanwhile, the Lions also notched one win in three outings at the 71st annual Redwood Empire Invitational Basketball Tournament in Healdsburg. El Mo opened the tourney with losses to Ygnacio Valley (46-35) and Ukiah (65-32) before defeating Kelseyville (46-43).
The Lions had revenge on their minds in their Dec. 12 REIBT opener against Ygnacio Valley, a team they’d lost to by 20 points last month. This one was much closer, but the Warriors did just enough to pull out a 46-35 win.
“Although we lost, it was a huge improvement from when we lost to them in the first game,” El Mo coach Collin Walker said.
Logan Woolsey led the attack with eight points. Other top scorers included Dominic Aldana (6 points), Noah Kenny (4 points) and Saben Atteberry (4 points).
The Lions started well in Friday’s meeting with Ukiah, playing on even terms to forge a 12-all tie after one. It was the high water mark of the game for El Mo, as the Wildcats poured it on in the final three quarters to claim a 65-32 rout.
Top scorers were Aldana (8 points), Pat Atkinson (6 points) and Atteberry (6 points).
The Lions squared off with Kelseyville, another team that had beaten them early in the season, in Saturday’s get-away game. This game would belong to the Lions, coming from behind to post a 46-43 victory.
“This was a game where pride was on the line,” Walker noted. “This felt good as it was payback for our earlier loss to Kelseyville. This also was good for us as we hoped to at least end with one win in the REIBT Tournament.”
Pacing the offense were Woolsey (14 points), Kenny (7 points), Atteberry (7 points) and Aldana (6 points). Aldana was named to the REIBT All Tournament Team.
El Molino (2-10) will travel to Roseland University Prep on Friday, Dec. 20, in the last game of a quad-header (JV girls, JV boys, varsity girls, varsity boys). Start time is 8 p.m. The Lions return home to host Piedmont team on Saturday, Dec. 21, in a 3 p.m. start.
