Patriots, Sultans get tourney victories
- Updated: December 2, 2016
2016-17 EAST COUNTY PREP BOYS BASKETBALL
By Bill Dickens
© East County Sports.com
EL CAJON (12-2-16) — Christian bolted ahead of visiting Clairemont 37-24 by halftime and then turned the game into a blowout with a 24-7 spread in the final period of Thursday’s (Dec. 1) Greater San Diego Shootout.
NASHOM CARTER led the Patriots with 24 points, including 6 threes, 5 rebounds, 7 assists and one steal as Christian clobbered Clairemont 81-48.
JACKSON LARSEN netted 3 treys on his way to a 19 point finish, while DOMANIC SAFARTA buried 3 triples for 15 points and still found time to dish 9 assists and grab 7 steals.
DANIEL WELCH narrowly missed a double-double with 11 points and 9 rebounds for Christian (3-0).
Christian: Nashom Carter 24 (5 reb, 7 ast, 1 stl), Jackson Larsen 19 (5 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk), Domanic Safarta 15 (4 reb, 9 ast, 7 stl), Daniel Welch 11 (9 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 2 blk), Jack Mason 4 (2 reb, 1 stl), Patrick Roberts 4 (3 reb, 1 stl), Donte Bristol (2 ast).
SANTANA 78, LIBERTY CHARTER 55 – Santana put a buzz job on Liberty Charter Thursday (Dec. 1), taking a 29-17 first quarter lead in the Greater San Diego Shootout.
Four Sultans reached double scoring digits led by ANDREW HITCHCOCK with 15. SIMONE MARITANO chipped in with 14 points, as did TC SIMMONS and NICK BERHALTER.
Berhalter also handed out 9 scoring passes and grabbed 6 rebounds, one less than BRANDON SIMMONS.
Santana: Andrew Hitchcock 15 (1 reb, 1 ast, 3 stl, 2 blk), Simone Maritano 14 (3 reb, 2 ast, 4 stl), TC Simmons 14 (5 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl), Nick Berhalter 14 (6 reb, 9 ast, 3 stl), John Bobof 9 (3 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl), Zach Leggitt 8 (2 reb, 1 ast, 1 stl),
EL CAPITAN (Merced) 81, STEELE CANYON 76 – The Cougars lost at the Wine Valley Tournament in Napa, where they captured tournament titles in 2013 and 2014.
Zack Cook, the first-year head coach of the Napa High School boys basketball team, is good friends with DEREK STEPHENS, the head coach at Steele Canyon.
Cook and Stephens are 1996 Napa High graduates and played basketball for Denny Lewis, Napa’s head coach from 1974 to 2002. Cook and Stephens have been friends since their days of attending Silverado Middle School.
“He’s my best friend. We grew up together, played together,” Cook said Tuesday night. “We grew up around the block from each other and played Little League and rec ball and sports all through our teen years.”
Stephens, a member of the Napa High Athletic Hall of Fame, has been at Steele Canyon since 2007. His record is 124-128 with two Grossmont Valley League titles over the last nine years.
“Not only does Derek get to come home and see family, but I think it’s cool for him just to be in the Napa High gym where he played,” said Cook.
“He’s a really good coach. He gets his kids to play really hard. He played for Denny. His philosophies are close to what Denny’s were as far as having really well-conditioned teams and being fundamental and disciplined.”
