Cats open tourney with win
IMPERIAL — Over the past few years, the Brawley Union High boys’ basketball team has risen as a top contender and champion in local play and CIF-San Diego Section action as well.
The Wildcats won a CIF-SDS Division IV title last season and despite the loss of three crucial players to graduation, appeared to fill those open spots seamlessly Tuesday night against Coachella Valley here. The two teams met at Imperial High for a Tiger Classic matchup that ultimately favored the Wildcats, 73-32.
The annual tourney opened Monday night and this year the Tigers are playing are playing host to a total of seven teams.
Brawley is the tourney’s defending champion having won firstplace last season after defeating Southwest High in the final.
The Wildcats also reached the championship game in 2015, yet fell to San Ysidro in that title game.
On Tuesday, Brawley opened its tourney-title defense with a solid victory over the Arabs.
Brawley used its energetic and exasperating-to-opponents style defense, which cause Arab turnovers and neglected to allow the Thermal team an opportunity to run its offense.
The energetic play also helped Brawley open with a 9-0 run before the Arabs’ head coach called a timeout 5:58 left in the first quarter.
The Wildcats worked to the advantage with help from Jonathan Zarate and Austin Brewer.
The pair then helped push Brawley to a 29-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Wildcats mixed up the faces on the court, yet continued to pressure the Arabs defensively, leading to a 44-18 advantage at the half.
The team built on the advantage in the third and fourth quarters to tally a victory and even its record to 3-3 on the season.
Brawley returns to tourney action at 12:30 p.m. on Friday taking on Yuma. Tiger Classic Today’s action Calipatria and Coachella 4 p.m. Imperial and Yuma 5:30 p.m.