bakersfield wins first round

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Reebok Holiday Prep Classic: Bakersfield
Beats Hitchcock 68-58--(Dec. 18, 1999)

Silver Cup Game: Game No. 12 Bakersfield v. Hitchcock (Texas) Green Valley Auxiliary Gym

Ok, this is more like it, another SoCal team that knows how to win. We had a feeling that Alfred Williams and his Bakersfield Drillers team would feel confident coming into this game, having beaten Compton Dominguez already this season at the Buchanan-Clovis West "Battle of the Central Valley" Tournament earlier this month, and they were as Williams had 23 points, and teammate Johnny Wiley had 18, shooting 9-14 from the field and getting the MVP award. Williams shot 9-15 from the field, had 6 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 5 turnovers (ouch), but otherwise played an almost flawless game, shooting 5-7 from the line. Wiley also had a game high 12 rebounds and only 1 turnover in 25 minutes. Charles Black was the only other Driller to reach double figures with 10 on 4-5 shooting from the field, and 2-3 from the line. Bakersfield also managed to capitalize on the turnovers committed by Hitchcock, scoring 12 points off of 6 steals, compared with only 8 points off turnovers for Hitchcock.

Others scoring for Bakersfield were Brandon Huggins with 9 points (3-8 from the field, 0-2 from three, and 3-3 from the line, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, 3 turnovers, 18:20 minutes). Jason West scored 2, Mark Bruley had 6 points (in 28 minutes), shooting 2-10, and 1-4 from three, and only 1-6 from the line.

Here's a box for the game (which we managed to find at the Las Vegas Review-Journal's website, which is thoughtfully posting these so we don't have to type the whole thing in each game).

Bakersfield led 37-31 at the half, and again outscored Hitchcock in the second half 31-27. Bakersfield shot 46.7% from the field and 47.8 % from the line, but only hit 1 of 9 three pointers (11%). Hitchcock had pretty balanced scoring from four guys (see box below), but only shot 38.7% from the field on 24-62 shooting.

For you stat freaks, here's the abbreviated box scores (hey, remember last year when we typed in the entire box from the Dynasport reports? Not a chance we're gonna do that this year). . .

Bakersfield (Bakersfield, CA) 68, Hitchcock (Hitchcock, TX) 58
Box Scores Bakersfield (68) - Guerrero 0, West 2, Jennings 0, Bruley 6, Williams 23, Black 10, Simpson 0, Huggins 9, Jackson 0, Wiley 18. Totals 28 11-23 68. Hitchcock (58) - Rodgers 13, J. Smith 4, Scott 0, Fontenette 13, O. Smith 0, Seymore 1, Jordan 12, Dotson 11, Perez 0, Allen 4. Totals 24 7-16 58. Bakersfield 37 31 -68 Hitchcock 31 27 -58

Bakersfield will play again on Monday in the Green Valley Main Gym at 11:45 a.m. against Newbury Park, which also won it's first game today (more on that one in a bit).

Just another "W" for coach Hutson. . .

See you Monday.