ELLIOT CHRISTIAN BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM WINS FIRST SECTION TITLE IN SCHOOL’S HISTORY WITH 83-53 WIN OVER ARGONAUT
STOCKTON — On its first offensive possession, the Elliot Christian High boys basketball team made a quick statement.
Eagles guard Jimmy Beltz nailed a 3pointer less than five seconds after tipoff in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V championship game against Argonaut at the University of the Pacific’s Spanos Center on Saturday afternoon. From that point on, Elliot set the tone, and the Mustangs had no answers.
A smaller lead turned into a bigger lead toward the end of the first quarter, entering the second for the Eagles, who corralled the Mustangs with an 83-53 win to secure the blue banner. Elliot, the No. 1 seed, captured its first boys basketball section title in the program’s second trip to the title game in three seasons.
“The boys have worked hard all year for this,” said Elliot coach Jason Hitt. “We played our style of basketball all the way through, and that’s what I wanted to do. It’s a testament to them staying in shape and keeping each other healthy.”
Beltz, who leads the Eagles with 19 points per game, found the ball in his hand after a pass from teammate Onkar Sidhu. Beltz put the ball through the net for the first points of the game.
“Jimmy was able to knock down some threes,” said Hitt of Beltz, who had was 6-of-11 on 3-pointers on his way to a game-high 26 points. “If he’s hitting his threes, we’re pretty hard to stop.”
Argonaut, the No. 4 seed, led twice in the first quarter at 5-3, thanks to a 3pointer from Jared Votaw, plus a followup trey from the Mustangs’ Khoui Kling. But two costly turnovers led to Sidhu distributing the ball to Beltz, and guards Jalen Valverde and Nate Bond, both of whom scored their points inside the paint to the baseline and near the arc. Bond and Valverde had 18 and 11 points, respectively.
“Onkar did a great job in setting the tempo,” said Hitt of Sidhu. “Pushing the ball, getting the other team’s legs really tired.”
The Mustangs tied the game at 11-11 with 3:58 left in the opening quarter after Seth Tomczak knocked down two free throws. But 17 seconds later, Beltz, making an attempt to get a basket in-
side the paint, was fouled and sent to the line for two succesful free throws that gave the Eagles the lead for good at 1311.
In the final minutes of the first quarter, entering the second, the Eagles fenced the Mustangs’ offense. Thanks to defensive pressure that led to 11 of 22 turnovers in the first half, Elliot flew past Argonaut with a 10-2 run that led to a 2313 lead. The quarter ended the same way it started for the Eagles — Beltz hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The Eagles continued their flight at the start of the second quarter in three minutes. By that time, the Eagles led 2913. Argonaut (22-8), which scored its last field goal midway through the first quarter, went almost an entire quarter before making its shot from the field.
“We got a couple of streaks like that,” said Hitt of the team’s runs. “I don’t think we think about it too much until we get a 16-point jump. We just play our basketball the whole time.”
Rebounding was another factor for Elliot, which had 18 in the first half and 34 in the game. The Eagles committed only five turnovers in the game.
“Cody and Spencer and all the guards did a really good job in grabbing extra boards,” Hitt said. “One of our goals was 50/50 balls, making sure we grab everything. That’s just part of the game where if you can control the 50/50 balls, you’re going to have a great chance to win the game.”
Elliot led 42-21 at halftime. The score expanded to 66-37 after three quarters, as the Eagles continued to run up and down the floor, and the Mustangs couldn’t match up.
“It’s just great to win it, finally,” said Beltz, who was part of the Elliot team two years ago that played in the section title game. “We’ve been working hard for four years.”
Valverde echoed some of Beltz’s feelings toward winning the section title.
“I’m lucky enough to have guys who are going to knock down shots,” Valverde said. “I’ve got confidence in them.”
Valverde, who attended Lincoln his freshman year before transferring to Elliot, looked to higher power to be with the Eagles on their journey to win the section title.
“Thank God,” Valverde said.
Saturday’s game was the third section title contest for Hitt, who coached the Eagles’ squad two years ago when they faced Central California Athletic Alliance foe Brookside Christian, which won. The first title bout was in 2009, when he was the Linden High girls basketball coach whose team lost to Mode\sto Christian in the D-IV title game.
Other scores for the Eagles were Giovanni Bulleri with six points, Robert Dutcher, Nick Figueroa and Amari Jacobs three each and Josiah Spurgeon two.
The Mustangs’ scorers were Votaw with 22 points, and Kling and Adison Cramer with eight each.
Elliot made 15-of-30 treys, and 29-of-59 from the field. The Mustangs connected on 7-of-17 shots behind the arc, and 18-of-48 from the field.
After the game, the Eagles’ players and coaches were awarded their individual patches and championship hats, plus the blue banner. Then the players and coaches were escorted to one of the room’s inside of UOP’s athletic facilities, where they were treated to chocolate milk.
“Their expectations were they were going to go out and win a section today,” Hitt said.