EAGLES ADVANCE, HAWKS OUT IN PLAYOFFS
Senior guard Beltz is school’s career points leader with 22-point night
If the Elliot Christian High boys basketball team is writing a history book on its magnificent season, two more chapters were added in the California Interscholastic Federation State Basketball opener against Mt. Shasta.
The first chapter for the Eagles is hosting their second Nor-Cal game in three seasons. The second has one of their players becoming the program’s all-time leading scorer.
All of that added to Elliot (27-4), the No. 2 seed in Division V, posting a 7645 win to end the Bears’ playoff run at The Jungle on the Tokay High campus on Wednesday.
“Everybody was excited about that,” said Elliot coach Jason Hitt of the Eagles’ win.
Next opponent for Elliot is No. 7 seed Envision Academy of Oakland (18-5), which knocked off No. 10 seed Redwood Christian 54-44. The Eagles will host Envision Academy at McNair High on Saturday.
More than two minutes into the first quarter, Elliot, which has demolished most of its opponents in the opening quarter throughout the season, led 6-0. But then its half and fullcourt defenses in the final minutes of the quarter that proved to be too much for the Bears, leading to a 22-8 lead.
“Our defense was really good tonight,” said Elliot guard Jimmy Beltz, who had a game-high 22 points. “They struggled with (the Eagles’ defense) a little bit, and we got some easy buckets out of it.”
With two minutes left in the second quarter, and Elliot leading 37-19, Beltz canned a 3-pointer that officially made him the program’s all-time leading scorer at 2,000 points. He’s also hit more than 300 3-pointers.
“He has a chance to keep going higher and higher,” said Hitt of Beltz. “He’s a done a great job this year. He’s a varsity leader.”
Beltz, who made six 3-pointers in the game, added, “It is pretty special to me.”
By halftime, the Eagles soared to a 41-22 lead. In the third quarter, Elliot had an 18-13 advantage. But the first half pressure was too much for the Bears to overcome, as the Eagles flew to a 59-35 lead entering the final quarter.
Hitt cleared the bench toward the end of the fourth quarter. But he still kept some of the Eagles’ five starters — Beltz, guards Nate Bond, Jalen Valverde, Onkar Sidhu and forward Cody Doell — on the floor to play with the substitutes until the final second of the game.
“We were able to clear the bench, and get some of these guys in,” HItt said. “The entire bench, tonight, was awesome.”
Following Beltz in scoring were Bond with 18 points, Valverde with 15 points and Sidhu at 12. Guard Giovanni Bulleri followed with five points, and Nick Figueroa and Doell had two points each.
Mt. Shasta (19-8) had its top scorers in forward Ronnie Knight and guard Kaden Riccomini with 14 points each, and Kole Riccomini nine.