JV Blue-

This week the 16U Blue Dawgs went to Martin Luther King Technical Jr High to play in a one day tournament at the 17U "B" Division. We played hard and fought point for point in the last two games and pulled off the surprise upset and managed to win the division! Here are the summaries...

YBA Blue 69 SCVBA 39

Summary: In a game that was never close, we got hot with 7 3pt fgs in the 1st half. Kyle led the way in the 1st half with 3 of the 7 3pt fgs and finished with 12 points. While our Defense led the way in the 2nd half allowing only 13 points. Everyone contributed with all 9 players scoring and playing playing excellent "D". Our newest Dawg Andre Ware had a good 1st game w/5 points and 7 rebounds. Darrell had a great all around game with 8 assists and 5 rebounds. Strong 2nd half that helped build our team chemistry.

Defensive MVP: entire team in the 2nd half.
Most Free Throws: Andre Ware

YBA Blue 39 Vacaville 38

Summary: In a game that was back and forth all game the Dawgs showed again that they know how to FINISH a game. Vacaville opened up on a 5-0 run and it took us a full 8 mins to claw back to a 7-7 tie. After that we jumped Defenses and forced the pace to open a 4 point lead at the half. We built that to a 6 point lead with 6 minutes to go in the 2nd half. Little did we know that Vacaville would hit back to back 3s in the corner to tie it up. In the last 1:45 it went back and forth until Andre had the ball in a trap situation on the sideline. Instead of calling timeout coach had faith in his players & let the play go and Andre made a solid pass to James that he bobbled slightly. On the bobble Vaca stole it and took the lead with 35 seconds. We missed an opportunity to take the lead and they had the ball with 20 seconds left. We almost had a steal by James in full court and Vacaville called time out. We spoke in the huddle about having to get a 5 second count or a steal. We almost got the ball then but missed and had to foul. That set up the game-winning play at half court. On the inbounds James got a deflection to Darrell who broke out in a 2 on 1 fast break with James, Darrell knifed a bounce pass to James who made the right handed lay up with time expiring to win 39-38.

Defensive MVP: James Trujillo
Mr. Everything: Darrell Pouncier

YBA Blue 48 St. Clement 46 (OT)

Summary: In another give and take battle coach Adam's Dawgs fought hard and almost took it from the older team in the last minute. In a game that was intense and hard fought the whole time the Dawgs had their chances. David went end to end for a lay up and then was fouled with the game tied and only 9 seconds left. It was a learning experience as he missed them and the game went into OT. In OT we missed our shot off the tip off, and St. Clement wanted to hold for the last shot so we jumped into a pressure man Defense and got the stop with 30 seconds. We got a good look and ended up getting David back to the Free Throw line with only 7 seconds. He learned from his misses and then hit them both. Ballgame.

Defensive MVP: Ceron Cherry (shut down his man in OT), Andre Ware (played bigger than everyone else out there)
Mr. Clutch: David Saghatelyan (2nd award)

Coaches Final Thoughts....

A very surprising weekend, I didn't expect us to win at the 17U level. I knew we could compete but wasn't sure that we had the will to overcome what we needed to... Obviously I was wrong! I am proud of the team and know that we are still getting better... We have decided to go to Livermore on May 15-17 for a tournament there. It will be a good test of where we stand in reality, as opposed to where we feel we are. I am getting more excited and energized as the season goes on, which is surprising ask a coach... We have done an excellent job of continually improving, working hard, and letting no one take what is ours... Be proud of what you have accomplished but I want all my Dawgs to know that Coach is proud & also that I absolutely am not satisfied so you better not be either, stay hungry and play your best every time... LOYALTY, TEAM SPIRIT AND INDUSTRIOUSNESS will take us where we want to go.