Road warrior Braves rally late for win at Santana
- Updated: January 16, 2016
2015-16 EAST COUNTY PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
By Adam Paul
© East County Sports.com
SANTEE (1-16-16) — In Grossmont Valley League opening night action Friday (Jan. 15), El Cajon Valley took on the Santana Sultans and pulled an upset by knocking off the Sultans in a 67-57 victory.
It was a close game the whole way as both teams couldn’t pull away as they went neck and neck, each scoring 15 in the first quarter. Both teams would pull out pretty much the same result in the second as the Braves were able to outscore the Sultans 19-18 and lead 35-34 at the break.
The second half started with both teams looking to gain some sort of momentum and interestingly enough it was the Sultans who were able to grab it and lead. For the Sultans it was different because in the past the third quarter wasn’t kind to them but this time they were able to outscore the Braves 17-9 to lead 50-43.
Leading the charge for the Sultans was floor general FRANKIE GUTIERREZ who rolled a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. Other Sultans having a hand in things were DAULTON BARRY who put up 10 points and ANTHONY ROMERO who chipped in with 12 points.
Despite the scoring spree of both Readus and Sulyman the Braves would find themselves trailing by 8 points with about 5 minutes to go in the contest. This is when the whole game changed as the Braves were able to put the clamps down defensively and crash the boards, which created an 18-point swing in their favor in which they were able to outscore the Sultans 24-7 in the final stanza.
El Cajon Valley: Ahmad Sulyman 24 (5 reb, 4 ast), Ronne Readus 23 (18 reb, 5 blk), Hussein Al-anzei 10 (3 reb), Jeremiah Davis 8 (6 reb, 2 blk), Dmir Witherspoon 2 (3 reb).
Santana: Frankie Gutierrez 12 (10 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl), Anthony Romero 12 (5 reb, 4 stl), Daulton Barry 10 (3 reb), Mitchell Miller 7 (5 reb, 3 ast, 5 stl), Trent Baugh 7 (2 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl), Noah Nunez 4 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl), John Bobof 3 (1 ast), Cooper Mendoza 2 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl).