ESL Battle for Supremacy
If the Granite Hills High School boys basketball team was hot coming into Thursday’s matchup with Lindsay, it left the gym fully engulfed in a supernova-like flame.
Granite ran Lindsay out of the gym and handed the Cardinals a 51-point loss: 8837. This was the Grizzlies’ 16th straight win. It’s their longest win streak since they won 21 straight in the 2013-14 season when Chris Robles, Caleb Reynaga, Luis Maldonado and Kilon Bradford were all on the same team. Robles and Reynaga were on hand to watch the win on Thursday.
The blowout over Lindsay also all but wrapped up the East Sequoia League title for the Grizzlies as they are now 7-0 in league, with Lindsay falling to 4-3. Barring an epic meltdown from Granite, the ESL will be clinched should the Grizzlies beat Sierra Pacific at home next week.
Senior Joe Cortez got Granite off to a great start when he hit two three-pointers on back-to-back possessions to begin the game. Junior Oscar Hernandez hit a three of his own before Lindsay’s Isaac Flores finally got his team on the board to pull Lindsay to within 9-2 with 5:24 to play.
With a balanced barrage from Kyron Ennis, point guard Eric Castillo and forward Sal Perez the rest of the first period, the Grizzlies took a 26-6 lead into the second quarter and a 4417 lead into halftime. Lindsay captain Pablo Bolanos scored a couple of buckets near the end of the second quarter, including a buzzer-beater, but the Grizzlies kept building the lead like a machine.
Granite is so good this season because they know how to break the press, find open spaces with passing and each player understands how to cut and get open. On any given night, one of about six or seven players can lead the team in scoring. This, compared to last year when Bradford dominated every team put in front of him, averaging more than 28 points per game.
This season is also different with the arrival of freshman point guard Abraham Gabinete, a kid who chose to come to Granite Hills after seeing Bradford blossom into the player he became, according to head coach Bud Luther. Not many kids actually choose to go to Granite Hills for basketball, not when Porterville and
Monache share the same town.
With the lead hovering around 30 points for Granite most of the third quarter, Luther was able to play most of his reserves in the second half.
Lindsay’s Alaa Kourain scored six points of his own in the third period, and guard Ryan Gonzlez sank three straight threepointers for the Cardinals to make the score 69-34.
But the end of Granite’s bench in Gabinete,
Tyler Burks, Saul Reyes, Andre Keene and Eddie Navarrete kept up the pressure. In the fourth quarter, those five helped Granite score 21 points.
“It’s nice to play at home,” Luther said. “It’s definitely a plus for us. We shot the ball really well. The kids play with such confidence and share the ball so well.”
The Grizzlies shot the ball so well, Luther called it the team’s “best shooting game of the year.”
Granite shot 55 percent from the field and 55 percent from three-point range, making 11 of their 20 attempts.
Cortez and Perez both led the team with 13 points apiece. Oscar Hernandez followed with 11 points, and Burks chipped in with 10 points and five rebounds, three of which were on the offensive glass.
Granite improved to 21-2 while Lindsay fell to 9-11 overall.