Del Norte struggles in loss

DN falls to Little 4 squad Hoopa 62-40

After a solid home debut with a victory against Brookings-Harbor Thursday night under its belt, the Del Norte Warriors boys varsity basketball team took a step backwards at home on Saturday.

On the final day of the 2011 Warrior Classic, Del Norte of the Big 5 Conference was crushed by the Hoopa Warriors of the Little 4 Conference 62-40 at Thunen Gym.

Del Norte had no answer for the competition as Hoopa was able to drain six 3-pointers, a longtime team specialty, but also produced another added dimension of a good inside game and baskets scored from short range. Del Norte could not stop the Hoopa attack as the home team Warriors trailed by as many as 26 points.

“We’ve got to learn how to compete better,” said Del Norte head coach Blaine Lopez. With a young squad made up of a number of juniors and sophomores, Lopez believes this team has to do a better job of being more consistent and learning to play  with more intensity and focus for the entire 32 minutes of a game.

Lopez was disappointed with the way his team turned the ball over nearly 20 times including 10 in the first half as the Hoopa Warriors ran wild using good speed and tenacity to create turnovers and convert them into points.

“You can’t turn the ball over like that, especially when you’re playing a good team,” Lopez said.

The game started off slowly. Neither team could get the ball into the basket as a good-sized crowd attended a Saturday afternoon showdown between two teams that normally play one another at least a few times a year.

With the contest tied 4-4 with a few minutes into the game,  Hoopa woke up as Del Norte could do little to stop the Hoopa Warriors. Del Norte trailed by a 17-6 margin after a quarter of play.

In the second quarter, Del Norte could not get back on track as shots clanged off the rim at an alarming rate while the baskets kept on going in on the opposite end of the court for Hoopa.

By the end of the half the Hoopa Warriors were in complete control of the game taking a 35-16 lead into the locker room.

In the second half it was more of the same as Hoopa consistently made its shots from both inside and outside, and the third quarter ended with them taking a very comfortable 50-26 advantage, as Del Norte  ended the game with the 22-point defeat.

Senior Darian Simpson led Warrior scorers with 11 points and chipped in seven boards. Doug Ovick had 10 points off the bench,

Colby Japp finished with four points and seven rebounds while Aaron Fitch had six points. Daniel Quick finished with four points and Raul Zepeda had three points. Matt Joy finished with two points. Del Norte fell to 3-4 for the year.

For Hoopa, Talon Williams and Milton Stewart each scored 13 points.

Lopez thanked all the volunteers who helped make the Warrior Classic a reality and was pleased with how smoothly things ran.

“It takes a lot of work to make this happen,” he said.

Del Norte has this week off and will be in action next week at the “Jamie Angley” Hornet Classic at Enterprise High School in Redding starting on Dec. 28. The first game will be a great challenge for Del Norte as they play one of the better  teams in the region in 8-2 Foothill of Palo Cedro of the Redding area.

Del Norte next plays at home against St. Bernard’s of Eureka on Jan. 4.

Reach Bill Choy at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it