Manny, six-man Kings fall short in Tijuana
- Updated: March 8, 2020
2020 SAN DIEGO KINGS BASKETBALL
By Damon Sloan
Special to EastCountySports.com
TIJUANA – The San Diego Kings fell to the Tijuana Piranas, 137-128, in a shootout in Tijuana, Mexico last Thursday night. The Kings were short-handed, with only suiting up six players for the trip.
Kings owner Abraham Muheize even stepped in and provided quality minutes for the team. The loss will not affect the San Diego Kings’ rankings as they will still be the third seed going into the Far West Playoffs next weekend.
Captain Manny Perez put in a season-high 40 points hitting six triples in the process. Davion Cole-Johnson dropped 28 points and was able to find his way to the charity stripe to help add to his point total.
Amaan Assadi made his first start with the Kings on Thursday, finishing with 19 points in his starting debut including going 5-of-6 from three-point range.
“It felt good to have my first start of the season,” said Assadi. “I was told right before the game that I was going to start, but I come ready to play every game and tonight I found my shooting stroke from three.”
Even with six guys, the Kings were able to stay competitive throughout the entire game. Neither team played much defense and contested shots were dropping for both squads. The Kings were tied late in the fourth, but three late-game three-pointers for the Piranas did enough to seal the 137-128 victory.
King head coach Raynell Mils was happy with the effort of his guys, just not with the outcome.
“I’m proud of the way we battled tonight despite only have 6 guys present, Mils explained post-game. “I thought we rose to the challenge and played extremely hard; we just didn’t close the game how we normally do.”
With the loss, the Kings return home to San Diego to prepare for the Far West Playoff Tournament that will take place on March 14 and 15. The Kings come into the tournament ranked third and will host their crosstown rivals, the San Diego Surf, in the first matchup which will tip-off at 7 p.m. from El Cajon Valley High School.
Visit SDKingsBasketball.com to get information on ticket prices for next weekend’s playoff tournament as well as San Diego Kings sports apparel to sport for the games.
