Warrior boys B-ball team falls to Foothill fall at away tourneys

Lose 59-30 at Redding tourney

Against one of the top teams in the region, the Del Norte High boys varsity basketball team hung tough in the first half against Foothill High of Palo Cedro on Wednesday.

The second half was another matter.

At the first day of the  “Jamie Angley” Hornet Classic at Enterprise High School in Redding, the Warriors trailed  15-7 after one quarter and 29-18 at the half.

In the second half the Cougars put things into second gear on the way to the 59-30 win.

The young Warriors team, which retuned only three players from last year, welcomed back senior Collin Taylor. A key bench player from last year at point guard, Taylor did not play to start the season as he recovered from an injury suffered during football season. Wednesday was his debut for this year. He finished with three points.

Coming in, the Cougars’ only two losses were against top squads from Southern California in Pasadena and Compton.

In the Northern Section rankings on Maxpreps, Foothill is No. 2 overall and is No. 21 in the California Division 3 rankings.

To start off the contest Del  Norte was sharp on defense, causing turnovers and going after loose balls.

The Warriors began things with a swish when Doug Ovick drained a 3-pointer on their first offensive possession. Foothill quickly answered back with a 3-pointer of their own. With six minutes left in the opening quarter Del Norte had the early 5-3 lead. By the end of the quarter, while the Cougars had a 15-7 advantage, the Warriors were right there with them

“We were in the game,”  head coach Blaine Lopez said. “It was good to see improvement.”

In the second quarter, Del Norte was able to get the lead down to  20-14 but the Cougars went on a run late in the quarter to make things 29-18 at the half.

Things fell apart in the third quarter as the Warriors scored only three points while the Cougars pulled away.

“We had good looks but we couldn’t get the ball in,” Lopez said.

This included Foothill scoring  six straight points in under a minute to start the quarter.

“We 100 percent missed our assignments,” Lopez said. “We’ve got to learn that we always have to do the little things right at all times. We can’t take a break from that. If we don’t we’re going to pay for it.”

By the end of the quarter Del Norte was down 40-21.

In the final quarter, it was more of the same as the Cougars were able to quickly move down the court and get buckets as Del Norte struggled.

While it was an improvement from the dry spell of the third quarter, Del Norte still was only able to manage nine points for the quarter.

Warrior senior Darian Simpson led Del Norte scorers with seven points. Ovick, Colby Japp, Raul Zepeda and Aaron Fitch each had four points apiece for Del Norte.

Del Norte fell to 3-5 for the year while Foothill improved to 9-2.

Today, the Warriors will face Central Valley in the consolation bracket.

The tournament concludes on Friday.

On Tuesday, Del Norte returns home to face Sain Bernard’s of Eureka.