bakersfield beats newbury park

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SoCalHoops Tournament News

Reebok Holiday Prep Classic:
Bakersfield Beats Newbury Park--(Dec. 20, 1999)

Game No. 39 of the Reebok Holiday Prep Classic, a Silver Cup game between Bakersfield (10-3) and Newbury Park (4-3) turned out to be a lot closer than many would have guessed it to be, but Alfred Williams, who finished with 15 oints and 5 rebounds was named the Game MVP as his Drillers won, 68-58 in a game which looked like a blowout in the first half, but which actually turned into a contest as the Panthers came roaring back from a 36-19 halftime deficit to score 39 points in the second half, outscoring Bakersfield by 7 (39-32), but it was not enough.

Williams was no tthe high scorer for Bakersfield, but since Johnny Wiley was already selected as the MVP of the game on Saturday, it's nice they could spread it around. Wiley had another tremendous game, scoring 23 points and grabbing 9 boards. He also shot the ball well, hitting 10 of 14 shots from the field and 3 olut of 4 free throw attempts and had no turnovers in the game in which he played 25 minutes of nearly flawless basketball. Williams wasn't so lucky, and he only shot 50% from the field (7 for 14) and went 1-4 from three point range, and he also had 3 turnovers, but hey. . . he's the MVP. As a team, Bakersfield shot the ball very well from the field at 58% but in the second half they improved to 61%, hitting 13 of 21, 2 of 5 from three point range and 50% of their free throws (why is it that high school players don't shoot better from the line? Practice guys). Others who scored for Bakersfield were Jason West with 6, Marcus Jennings and Mark Bruley with 6 each as well, Charles Black, Brandon Huggins and Jason Jackson each with 4. Jackson also had 9 rebounds.

A major factor for Newbury Park's seeming collapse in the first half, was the low scoring of Will Svitek, who only had 2 points to go along with 9 rebounds though and with his 13 rebounds from Saturday, he's having a pretty decent tournament overall. Javad Esfandiacy had 11 pijnts and Aaron bobik, in the tradition of his brothers before him, had 24 ponits to lead all scorers in the game. Others scoring for Newbury Park were Shomare McLemore with 5, David Kent with 9, and Sahne Hosac with 7.

Bakersfield advances in the Silver Cup to play tomorrow in Game 75 at 1:10pm at the Green Valley Main Gym, where they'll play St. Mary's of Arizona in a game which will decide whether the Drillers play for first place in the Championship game (Wednesday, Game 108, at 4:35 p.m. at Green Valley Main) or whether they'll be in the 3rd-4th place game at 10:55am on Wednesday at Green Valley Main)..