7th Grade Black-January 22-23

It was another exciting weekend of basketball for the YBA 7th Grade Black team playing in the 8th Grade Boy’s Black Division. The boys played great hustle basketball in their first game against Napa doing a good job of passing the ball and finding the open man. It was a neck and neck game to the finish with our boys coming out on top 47 to 45.

 The next game was a back to back game against a much larger, taller, quicker and seasoned team from Mission City. The boys held their own in the 1st quarter but lost ground in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Even though the boys had a 30 pt deficit going into the 4th qtr, they kept fighting back and outplayed Mission City 15 to 4 in the 4th qtr losing 35 to 54. The quickness and execution of the Mission City team helped our boys identify key areas to keep working on as they move forward through the season.

The last game on Sunday against the Rocktown Ballers White team was a “nail biter” to the end. The boys ended the 3rd qtr behind by 5 pts but by keeping their composure and executing both the offense and defense well, owned the 4th qtr winning 38 to 40. The coaches and parents were proud of how the team played this weekend and got a glimpse into the potential this group of young men have and the future looks very, very bright. Go DAWGS!

7th Grade Blue-January 22-23

The guys kicked off a great weekend of play with an intense battle against the Hurricanes. A game where we were physically out played on both the offensive and defense boards, the guys learned both the importance of shot faking, and creating contact when a shot goes up (boxing out). Game two vs the Davis Wild Cats started the same for two quarters going into halftime with an 18 point deficit. At half time, the importance of ignoring the score and coming out more physical was stressed. The guys bought in and finished the third quarter holding the Wildcats scoreless for the entire quarter! We went on to win with physical play from all of our guys, especially Mike Dowen (bloody lip), Cole Kelley (shiner in the eye) and Jack Kearns (boxing out the bigs). Alex Patton had a stand out game with 12 points and a great up and under move down low. The third game was a great game from the start putting pressure on EDH and gaining a 15 point lead early on. We won by 20 points. All in all a great weekend 2-1 in D1 bracket!

6th Black-January 22-23

After a layoff of four weeks from tournaments, the Black Team was back in action. Despite the coach's concern about being "rusty", the team quickly picked up where they left off. With a convincing 71-32 win over the Hurricanes in the first game, they never looked back.
The second game was on the "Big Stage" (Court 1), and again - the team was excited! So excited, they smothered rival Rocktown Ballers and won 66-23.

The championship game was a convincing 66-31 win over the Folsom Force.

Using an array different defensive sets, and executing their offense cleanly, the team averaged 67 points a game, and had an average margin of victory of 39 points.

5th-January 22-23

Game #1 vs Hurricanes 46-17 win

We started slow offensively missing a lot of easy buckets, but our defensive pressure was too much and we started pulling away in the middle of the 1st quarter. The boys executed very well on both ends of the court as everyone contributed to the win. The offensive player of the game was Justin Kraft with 12 points. Our entire team played lock down "D" all weekend, but Justin led the way with intense "on ball" pressure and a team leading 8 rebounds and Ryan Smith recorded 6 blocked shots. Mr. Hustle was Blake Zieske. In the final seconds the Hurricanes had a fast break opportunity and Blake caught him from behind and blocked the shot without fouling! This kind of hustle exemplifies this teams attitude and I couldn't be happier with our effort. The Dawg with the best attitude was Josh Farr. I don't think I have ever seen him rattled or upset.

Game #2 vs Rocktown Ballers 49-13 win
Not much to say about this game because it was all Dawgs, all day. The boys were unbelievable defensively and able to fast break at will. It is hard to coach games like this because I don't like holding the boys back. I let them know we don't hold back with intensity or effort, we just don't fast break or put too much pressure on the ball. We worked on our half court offense and I feel we got better at executing. Gabe Gillespie and Blake Zieske each hit 3 pointers and Justin Kraft led all scorers with 10 points. Defensively Ryan Smith anchored the paint with tough interior defense and 7 rebounds. Josh Farr, Justin Kraft and Blake Zieske all had 3 steals. Best Attitude and Mr. Hustle was Ryan Haug. There isn't a thing he would not do for his team as he is all over the court diving for loose balls and playing awesome defense. Nice job boys!

Game #3 vs Eldorado Hills 47-9
Sorry to be so boring, but it was the same story all weekend. The boys have so much team spirit and cohesiveness that they will not let up defensively. Our defensive player of the game was the whole team, with Ryan Haug and Carson March leading the way. Again I had to pull back the reigns and not allow fast breaks because it would have been too ugly. We slowed the tempo and worked on our half court game. Josh Farr led the way with 10 points and Ryan Smith pulled down 8 boards and recorded 3 steals. Nick Periera was the Dawg with the best attitude.

Coach Gillespie

4th Grade-January 22-23

It was another great weekend of basketball for our 4th grade boys DAWG team playing in the 5th Grade Boys “White Division”. The first matchup was against the much taller EDH Trojans White team, which challenged our boys to fight for rebounds and hold their composure when being pressed. Even though the boys lost this game 27 to 46, it provided them with a great opportunity to identify areas to keep working on, as well as areas they have improved in, as a team. The next match up was against the Del Oro Eagles in which our boys did a great job executing both their defense and offense winning 34 to 28. The DAWGS won their Sunday game against the YBA 5th grade Xtreme White team 33 to 25 . This was a fun game to watch because we were able to see how both YBA teams have improved over the last several weeks. Overall the YBA 4th grade team played very well and continue to improve.