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SoCal Prep & High School Report

Mojave River League: More High Desert
Stuff From Barstow--(February 3, 1998)

We've featured a few stories and reports about the Mojave River League here on SoCalHoops. Here's another update on the Mojave River League, which features Apple Valley, Barstow, Burroughs/Ridgecrest, Hesperia, Sultana, and Victor Valley. A lot of ground to cover, and not many people out there. But that's the way most folks who live out there like it. But they do love their hoops.

Friday night the Barstow Aztecs travelled to Ridgecrest to play Burroughs High (not the one from Burbank, but the one from Ridgecrest). They left the same way they came in - unbeaten in Mojave River League play. The Aztecs are now 19-2 overall and 6-0 in league. On Friday they used a 23-6 run in the third quarter to subdue the Burros on their way to a 73-48 win Friday night in the Burroughs High School gymnasium. Burroughs, which is struggling through a losing season at 9-11 overall and only 2-4 in league play, managed to stay close to the league-leading Aztecs for the first 16 minutes of the game, trailing only 15-13 after one quarter and 34-25 at halftime.

The the 'death quarter,' as Burroughs Co-Head Coach Robert Campbell called it was the third quarter, which just destroyed any chance the Burros might have had to catch Barstow. James Hernandez, Willie Mann and Steve Miano each drained long-range 3-point baskets in the period, which helped Barstow pull out to lead lead 57-31 when the quarter ended. "It just went so fast," added Campbell. "We just scored six points because we didn't shoot very well. Then they started to run and the game got away from us right there." The Burros other Co-Head Coach, Bill Campbell, thought that part of the key lay in his players not getting good picks coming off the screens within their offense. "We talked about that at halftime, but we never really made the adjustment," said Campbell. Mann led Barstow with 19 points on the night, with Hernandez adding 14 and Miano 12. Freshman center Rory O'Neil led Burroughs with 13 points, while Trey Montoya had 10 and six steals. Archie Curtis failed to score but had a team-high five assists.

Both Robert and Bill Campbell classify this week's upcoming road games as 'must wins' against Hesperia Tuesday and Apple Valley Friday. If the Burros win both they will climb back to the .500 mark both in league (4-4) and overall (11-11). A loss in either game would seriously damage their chances for a playoff berth in the CIF-SS in two weeks. We'll let you know how they fared as soon as we receive a report.

Barstow was led by Mann with 19, Hernandez with 14, and Miano with 12, followed by Santillanes with 6, Yarker 6, Bach 6, Shivers 4, Alcantara 4, and Benevidez with 2 points. Burroughs scoring was Montoya with 10, Pich 3, Jones 4, O'Neil 13, Moffitt 4, Davis 1, and Rollingson with 6 points.