venice beats eldorado

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Reebok Holiday Prep Classic: Venice
Beats Eldorado 80-68--(Dec. 18, 1999)

Bronze Cup Game: Game No. 10 Venice v. Eldorado (Las Vegas, NV) Durango Auxiliary Gym

Finally, a team from SoCal who knows how to get it done. . . . And Venice's Dave Goosen did it with some flair too, as Montell Duhon (6'-6" Sr. SF/SG) had 23 points and was chosen as the game's MVP. Out of three Western League teams in the tournament, Venice, the least likely to have won according to a lot of the pundits, is the only one which in fact did, as Fairfax lost and so did Westchester.

Duhon had a great game, and he also managed to get the attention of several coaches who hadn't seen him before. He shot 8-12 from the field, 1-3 from three point range, and 6-11 from the line while grabbing 4 boards and a steal in 24 minutes of play. The Gondoliers also got good games from Kevin Eleby (5'-10" Jr. PG) who finished with 16 points, 1 assist and 2 turnovers, on 8-14 shooting from the field, 0-3 from three point range, but then Kevin was never a great three point shooter, and was always more of a slasher to the hole. Kevin also managed 5 steals, a team high. Lyman Edwards (5'-11" Sr. PG) who also plays point, had 5 points and 8 assists, but was seemingly plagued by turnovers with 11 in the game. He did shoot 100% from the field (2-2) and the same from three, 1-1. Lanier Brown, a newcomer to the team this season, also had a near perfect game, shooting 6-6 from the field, 1-1 from three and grabbing 4 rebounds for 13 points in just 19 minutes. Kyle Morrison had 16 points, 6-13 from the field, and a bad day from three point range (0-3), but he'll have time on Monday to practice shooting. He was 4-4 from the line and had an amazing team high 11 rebounds (not bad for a guy who is a perimeter shooter by nature)--2 offensive and 9 defensive. Other's scoring were Marlon Connerly, with 5, and Anthony Alexander, a two year varsity player who got 13 minutes starting today.

Venice shot an impressive 60% from the field overall, and 62.5% from the line, which was a lot better than Eldorado's scoring. The game was never really in doubt as in both halves, Venice had 40, and Eldorado had 34, thus accounting for the 68-80 final. El Dorado managed slightly more points off turnovers, 18 to 17, but it was Venice's overall 33-55 from the field shooting which seemed to make the difference, and which more than made up for the imbalance in turnovers: Venice had 22 turnovers in the game, compared to only 15 for Eldorado.

Eldorado's high scorer was Maurice Thomas with 19, and Rahwan Williams who had 14.

Venice will play again on Monday against South Mountain, which just hammered Canyon Anaheim 79-36 (sheesh, another SoCal loss). Venice will play at 11:25 in the Durango Main Gym on Monday morning.