Hart’s Jacob Paisano is already the school’s star quarterback on the field, but on the basketball court he’s leading the team to Foothill League wins as the Hawks defeated the Canyon Cowboys, 75-47, on Friday.
Paisano, who led the Hawks (14-8, 4-3) in scoring with 16 points, was making timely passes and mid-range shots all game long as Hart had one of its best offensive nights of the season, with nine different players scoring.
“He has really good vision,” said Hart head coach Tom Kelly. “And for the most part, our team is really unselfish. We don’t mind sharing the ball. Jacob always has his head up and he goes to the basket strong, and if I had to give a game ball away tonight, it’d be Jacob.”
With the win, the Hawks swept the Cowboys (13-9, 2-5) in the season series as they won earlier in the season at Hart High School.
With this game being at Canyon, the Hawks wanted to prevent the Cowboys from getting close to the win. One of the players the Hawks wanted to stop, senior guard Isaac Yuhico, dropped 33 points in the first game.
With Yuhico poised for another big night, Kelly wanted the Hawks to be physical with him so his team could have a chance.
“We wanted to try and limit their second shots, limit Isaac. He had 33 the first time we played him at Hart,” he said. “So, we just wanted to be tougher. Make it harder for him to get the stuff going … We thought if we could make him a passer and get less shots, we’d have a chance.”
For Hart, the game plan worked as Yuhico was held to 16 points and the Cowboys’ offense was unable to get anything going, especially in the second half as the team was held to 18 points all together.
“Hart played really well tonight, credit to them. They have a really good coaching staff, and really good players over there, and they had a really balanced scoring,” said Canyon head coach Ali Monfared. “And [Yuhico] didn’t have the same offensive game and credit to Hart. They were doubling him and loading everybody over.”
With the win, the Hawks kept their postseason hopes alive as the team vies for the fourth spot in the Foothill League standings. With three straight league wins in a row, the team has all the momentum to make a late-season push.
“Our goal is to just be 1-0,” Kelly said. “We play the game in front of us and not look ahead, we can’t look back.”
The Hawks will look to continue their winning streak on Tuesday at home against the Valencia Vikings with tip-off scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
As for Canyon, the loss drops the team to 2-5 in league play and sixth in the standings as the Cowboys will look to bounce back on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. against the Saugus Centurions.
“I think for us, it’s been the same thing. It’s just continuing to be more consistent defensively and rebounding,” Monfared said. “We have to want to get more stops, we have to want to get those defensive rebounds in traffic, and that’s got to be our goal when we come back.”
After Friday night’s games, here are scores from around the Foothill League:
Golden Valley 54, West Ranch 40: The Grizzlies (15-7, 6-1) bounced back from the first Foothill League loss of the season to Valencia with a win over the West Ranch Wildcats (6-13, 3-4).
Junior guard Donovan Webb tallied 18 points and led the team in scoring as Alex Villejo was second with 10 along with five rebounds and steals.
The Grizzlies will look to keep up their winning ways on Friday as the team heads to Castaic against the Coyotes.
As for West Ranch, the Wildcats play the Coyotes Tuesday at home with tip-off at 6:40 p.m.
Saugus 80, Castaic 35: The Centurions (14-8, 5-2) secured the team’s fifth league win of the season with a victory over the Coyotes (3-14, 0-7).
Three Saugus players scored in the double figures with Derek Hsu leading the team with 19 points. Braydon Harmon tallied 18 points while Michael Mosby recorded 12.
The Centurions hit the road Tuesday for a matchup against the Canyon Cowboys while the Coyotes play against the Wildcats, with both games set to tip off at 6:30 p.m.
Photos below from Hart’s win over Canyon:
