Tigers fall to Yellowjackets
IMPERIAL – Despite opening its Desert League game against Palo Verde Valley with an 8-0 run, the Imperial High boys’ basketball team slipped to the Yellowjackets, 54-52, here Tuesday night.
While both teams struggled to score in the opening minutes of the game, the Tigers eventually found their stride with big plays from Kade Macias and Mikey Gallo.
The squads entered the second quarter with a two-point difference in the Tigers’ favor, who dominated the quarter and pushed to enter the half with a 28-18 lead.
After the half, the Yellowjackets’ offense picked up as a result of numerous Imperial turnovers, which led them to a 20-point quarter.
The Tigers mustered 10 points in the third quarter, which sent the game tied at 38-38 heading into the fourth quarter.
Like the third quarter, the fourth quarter predominantly belonged to the Yellowjackets who took a 44-42 lead over Imperial with just under five minutes left in the game.
While Imperial was able to tie the Blythe-area team 50-50 with 42 seconds left in the game, Palo Verde hit a three-pointer on the subsequent play that appeared to stop Imperial’s momentum until Malik Philips connected for a shot just in front of the threepoint like that moved the score to 53-52 in Palo Verde’s favor with about 10 seconds left on the clock.
The Yellowjackets would get one more point out of a free throw and after Imperial was unable to score with five seconds left on the clock, Palo Verde celebrated its third Desert League win of the season.
Imperial falls to 2-2 in league play and next travels to face Holtville High at 7 p.m.
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