Before the game, Soledad had a ceremony to unveil its 2005-06
Mission Trail Athletic League championship banner.
Before the game, Soledad had a ceremony to unveil its 2005-06 Mission Trail Athletic League boys basketball championship banner.
The Hawks used that as motivation as they beat the Aztecs 56-50 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
“I told the guys, ‘Take note fellas, because we’re going to do doing that next year,” coach Ed Cecena said.
Anzar held a 14-point lead entering the final quarter and still led big with three minutes remaining before Soledad (1-10, 0-1) went on a late scoring flurry.
Scott Benson was dominant for the Hawks with 23 points and 13 rebounds, while connecting on 9-of-12 shots from the field.
Erik Olson finished just short of a triple-double before fouling out. The 6-foot-4 center had seven points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.
Soledad’s top duo of Anthony Jasso and Frankie Vasquez was held relatively in check by the Hawks. Jasso came in averaging more than 25 points per game, but had only eight through the first three quarters before finishing with 16.
Vasquez, who was averaging 18 points per game, reached his average but only thanks to some late desperation 3-pointers.
The Hawks’ Adrian Monroy and Ryan Waller were given the responsibility of shutting down the Aztecs’ top two scorers and Cecena praised their play.
“It was their responsibility to keep those two scorers down and they played really well on the defensive end,” Cecena said.
Girls basketball
Anzar won its first Mission Trail Athletic League game of the season, beating Soledad 40-22 at home Friday.
The Hawks lost their league opener to Gonzales 45-34 on Wednesday.
Jessica Staley had 21 points to power the Hawks in a game that was stopped with 20 seconds left because of a knee injury to a Soledad player that caused medical personnel to be called to the scene.
Rachel Baker added 12 points and Shelby Keldson and Andra Fujita rounded out the scoring with four and three points, respectively.
Anzar jumped out to a 21-10 lead by halftime and kept the pressure on in the second half as it improved to 3-7 overall and 1-1 in league play.
