Volcano Vista overwhelms Valley
Hawks go on 36-0 run in second half to down Vikings
Wednesday night was not a good time to face the Volcano Vista Hawks.
Still stinging from a fourth-quarter-meltdown loss over the weekend, the Hawks put together a dominating effort Wednesday and Valley was on the wrong side of it.
The visiting Hawks (3-1) scored 36 straight points in the second half and went on to an 89-42 demolition of the Vikings (2-1). Cesar Madrid scored 21 points to lead a balanced Volcano Vista scoring attack, but the outcome was primarily a matter of defense.
The Hawks forced 22 turnovers and cashed in many of them with layups. For long stretches of the second and third quarters, Valley struggled mightily even to get the ball inbounds against Volcano Vista’s withering full-court pressure.
Coach Greg Brown credited his team’s aggressive defense to learning from a negative experience.
“We lost a game Saturday (to Amarillo Palo Duro) that we had a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter,” Brown said. “Defense was why we lost. So the last two days we worked very hard on that and you saw the results tonight. Our defense was really, really good.”
The stunned Vikings were unlikely to argue the point. Valley led 19-17 after a Derick Chavez 3-pointer early in the second quarter, but that’s when the Hawks’ defense started swarming.
After two Ja’Kwon HIll free throws, Volcano Vista turned up its full-court pressure and completely flustered the Vikings. Three straight backcourt turnovers by Valley aided an 11-0 run by the visitors, capped by Ben Manzano’s three-point play that made the score 28-19.
Volcano Vista led 40-31 at halftime but the final two quarters quickly turned into a landslide. Leading 48-35 the Hawks got backto-back layups from Manzano to spark a dazzling 36-0 run. Jake Deatherage scored nine of his 13 points in the third quarter, including a late 3-pointer that made the score 76-35.
The onslaught continued in the fourth with the margin reaching 84-35 before Valley’s Tim Gonzalez scored to break his team’s nine-minute drought.
While virtually nothing went right for the Vikings after the first quarter, just about everything clicked for the Hawks. Madrid and Jacob Aragon scored inside against the shorter Vikings, while Dion Battle hit four of Volcano Vista’s nine 3-pointers.
Ten players scored for the Hawks, who were without senior standout Jalontae Gray, who remains “day to day” with a shoulder injury, Brown said.
“He’s really our leader and we need him back,” Brown said, “but we do have a lot of nice pieces.”
Chavez led Valley with 10 points despite spending most of the game in foul trouble.