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Boys Basketball Find the Key to Winning
By Dylan Coplin, Sports Editor
The basketball team started off the league with a rocky start. With
a 1-3 record in the Pioneer league, the only game they won was
against South Torrance. The first league game against North Torrance
was not a good one.
The Eagles faced off against the
league’s leading scorer, Luke Duperon. Senior Adam McAtee played
great defense against the leagues leader in points and kept Duperon
to only 12 points. On the other side of the court, junior Kevin Ryan
put up huge points and big rebounds. He left the game with 23 points
and 16 rebounds, leading both teams in points. Ryan also contributed
5 blocks against North who could not penetrate Ryan’s defense.
Junior Keon Kensey had a great game as well, contributing 8 points
to El Segundo while stealing the ball 3 times that turned into
points. El Segundo couldn’t completely stop North’s offense and we
lost 58-78.
The second league game was against
Torrance a much weaker team than North. The game was a blowout at
first but El Segundo slowly came back. Nonetheless, Torrance played
a tight game with bigger and a better bench than ours. The big men
in the post shut down Ryan and kept him to only 11 points and 5
rebounds. Sophomore Jordan Taylor came out in the end of the third
quarter playing amazingly. He gave the Eagles an extra boost by
causing the other team to turn over the ball. Taylor played only
eight minutes and scored 13 points and had 4 steals. It wasn’t
enough though, as Torrance won by 14, 35-49.
The third league game against South
Torrance was the most exciting game yet. After not playing for the
preseason and the two season games, Senior Steven Rich started the
game at point guard over Taylor. After the first quarter the game
was tied 11-11, and then El Segundo completely took over the game.
They came out with Ryan boarding, blocking, and scoring. He ended
the game with 17 points, 14 rebounds, and 4 blocks. The team
connected really well too, especially with Rich taking the ball up
the court every time. Rich ended the game with 2 3-point shots, 12
points and 5 assists. The Eagles won their first league game 57-38.
Now with Rich back on the
lineup, the Eagles are looking better than ever. They seem to play
as a much better team on the road. Just before the league they had
an 8-game winning streak on the road. Now in league play, they are
looking for wins no matter where they are.
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