Holtville enjoys trip to Braves’ tourney
- Updated: December 30, 2017
Holtville dribbles against El Cajon Valley on Friday night.
2017 EAST COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL
By Dave Dickens
EastCountySports.com
El Cajon Valley and Holtville go for a rebound on Friday.
EL CAJON (12-29- 17) – The El Cajon Valley Braves hosted the semifinal at the Braves Winter Classic Tournament versus the long distance Vikings from Holtville.
The Braves hammered away holding the lead in the 1st quarter, and entering the beginning of the 2nd quarter, 22-19.
It appeared this would be a close, back and forth contest.
El Cajon Valley kept it close until the end of the 2nd right before the half down 7, 47-40 at the intermission.
It appeared that the Braves, playing a very quick Holtville squad, simply became fatigued, and suffered on the defensive side of the ball.
However, El Cajon Valley played fantastic on offense, including several offensive rebounds in particular, and had a handful of artistic 3-point shots.
The final of this contest, El Cajon Valley lost to Holtville, 81-71.
When questioned about the defensive play of his El Cajon players, as he peered up at the scoreboard, ECV head coach SCOTTY JAMES stated, “ We let them score 81 points, we definitely need to work on our defense.
El Cajon Valley and Holtville position for a rebound on Friday.
“We didn’t make the championship as tonight’s game was a semifinal, so whoever we play tomorrow, we have to get back to the drawing board and make improvements.”
El Cajon Valley (9-5) was on a 5-game winning streak up until this evening until running up against the visiting Vikings.
ECV will compete tomorrow at home against an unannounced team, at an unannounced time.
The Braves have the talent, and with adjustments on the defensive side of the ball, should have a very successful season.
