Hosting Palmdale High in the Hart Holiday Classic on Wednesday night, Hart boys basketball came out cold in its first game of the tournament.
Capitalizing on Palmdale’s mistakes, the Indians were able to fight back and take the lead in the closing seconds of the first quarter and didn’t relinquish the lead the rest of the game, winning 76-56.
“I think everybody was rusty,” said Hart head coach Tom Kelly. “We missed some little chippies around the paint, we forgot an inbounds play or two, we forgot a defensive assignment or two. I think with three days off we just wanted to shake the webs off.”
Giving Hart (4-9 overall, 1-1 in Foothill League) its first lead of the game, Isaac Deedon spotted up at the top of the key and drained his third 3-pointer in the first quarter to put the Indians in front 17-14.
Deedon finished the game with 19 points, hitting five 3’s on the night, adding six steals, four rebounds and two assists.
“My teammates were just finding me,” Deedon said. “I felt the rhythm after I made the first one even though it got called off so I just kept shooting it and it was going good today.”
Tightening up their defense in the second quarter, the Indians were able to coop up the Falcons (5-9, 4-4 in Golden League), holding them to just 11 points in the quarter, thanks to their full-court press.
‘We want to be a defense first team and we want to try to generate points off of our defense, so every possession we are trying to force either a bad shot, a quick shot or get a turnover,” Kelly said.
Joey Harand and Julian Verrier opened up the scoring for Hart in the second half, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers from the same corner.
A couple of possessions later, Jesse Barrientos followed with a 3-pointer of his own to extend Hart’s lead to 40-28 with under six minutes to go in the third.
Palmdale was able to battle back to within single digits, but the Indians were able to negate the run by answering with two big 3’s by Ryan Burcham to boost the lead back up to double digits.
Burcham ended the night 16 points, making four 3-pointers, all in the second half.
Hitting 15 total 3-pointers in the game, the Indians were able to balloon the lead and win by 20 points.
The Indians play again today at 7:30 p.m. against Righetti.
“The win is big because we have to get some momentum heading back into league so hopefully we can get a few wins in this tournament and get on a roll,” Deedon said.
Camarillo 86, Canyon 56
Hanging with Camarillo through the first three quarters, Canyon (4-10, 1-1) boys basketball knew it had its hands full against the Scorpions in the Hart Holiday Classic on Wednesday.
“For right after Christmas, having three days off it wasn’t bad,” said Canyon head coach Sean DeLong. “I think we were focused and came out with a decent game plan early. Our mental focus throughout the game had lapses and that’s where we got hurt.”
Anthony Gallo led the Cowboys in scoring with 12 points and Anthony Regalado was second with 10.
Willie Yomba finished with seven points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Aaron Berko chipped in six points and grabbed seven rebounds.
