The Avalon Boys Basketball season is upon us and our local high school hoopsters are working hard in the gym to get ready for their opening games of the season. Last week we got things started with a double header scrimmage against First Baptist. The Lancers played sloppily in both games, but showed good effort.
They had both good and bad stretches of play. There were too many forced shots from afar and a lot of turnovers, but still a great opportunity to practice a new offense against another school. At times it looked pretty good. Junior Jacob Mello led all scorers with 31 points in the two games. He also grabbed 20 rebounds, proving his worth on the inside as well.
Senior Nalu Martin had 25 points and hit two clutch free throws to seal the victory in game two. He is a welcome addition to the program this year and his high energy is much appreciated. Seniors Cole Konigsmark and Aaron Castro played well in game one, scoring 10 and 8 points respectively.
Just like Mello, Castro was a force on the inside, grabbing 20 rebounds in the two games. Konigsmark showed a lot of improvement on defense in game two. Junior Morgan Curiel played solid basketball at the point guard position, running the offense and limiting his turnovers. Junior Brandon Tamayo is another welcome addition to the program this year and showed his ability to score from the inside, play good defense, and even hit a three pointer every once in a while.
Seniors Darren Hall, Brandon Moreno, and David Talsky and Sophomore Eric Madriz will join the team this week after finishing a fine football season, where they helped lead their team to the semifinals of the CIF-SS Playoffs. Hopefully, that winning attitude will rub off on our basketball program and lead Avalon back to the CIF-SS Playoffs this year, after a three year absence.
Sophomores Kayden Rubio and Nathan Villagra and Freshmen Andrew Cruz and Brandon Tejeda are hoping to recruit a few more players to the program so they can have a JV season as well.
We have a coach, Allan Casillas, we have uniforms, and we have games scheduled. We just need a few more players to make it a team. It’s not too late, so if anyone out there is interested, see Coach Hall or Coach Casillas.
We will have our annual Alumni Basketball games on Friday, Nov. 24. Game times are JV at 6 p.m. and Varsity at 7 p.m. We will honor our league championship teams from 2020 and 2021 before the game as we finally have some boys basketball banners to hang up in the gym for the first time in over 40 years. After the Alumni games there will be a gathering at Catalina Charlies to talk about the Glory Days. All alumni are welcome to attend. These games are a fundraiser for our program so please come on up and support Avalon Boys Basketball on Friday night, Nov. 24. We will be selling our famous Boys Basketball Burritos at the game.
