Warrior Basketball
Warrior Justin Hansen, #32 in white, goes hard to the hoop in recent SSL action against Taft on the mountain.
The Warriors won the game to improve their record in SSL play. Photo by Michael Duffy, The Tehachapi News.
Posted by Tom Shea, The Tehachapi News, on February 3, 2009 Men's Basketball Whips SSL Opposition
It was a test of strength and speed for Tehachapi this week, and Mountain Basketball passed both exams with flying colors with victories over Taft (60-52) and Arvin (64-52) at the halfway point of the regular season.
Tehachapi (12-7; 4-1 SSL) was led by JJ Balkar against Taft, with the sharpshooter lighting up the scoreboard with a team leading 18 points. Bert Hall matched the effort with 18 points.
The contest was heated in the second half, with a flurry of Taft technical fouls taking away game play.
“They gave us a lot of free looks at the free-throw line with the fouls and that helped us close things out,” said head coach Chris Olofson. “We had a big lead in the second quarter and give credit to Taft for almost closing the gap. We’re happy we were able to finish it.”
The week ended with a blowout win over Arvin, with Hall leading in scoring with 13 points, followed by Christian Torres with eight points and Corey Torres with seven points.
Jordan Beardsley and Justin Hansen also had six points each.
“We had a good week and we’re right in the thick of this (league race),” Olofson said. “We’re going to keep practicing hard and focusing. We will need to give it our best on the court.”
Junior Varsity
The Braves extended their undefeated league winning streak to 12-2 (5-0 SSL) with a pair of wins over Taft (52-45) and Arvin (57-37). Kash Knudson and Cory Lange had the hot hands against Taft with 18 and 16 points apiece, while Travis Farewell had five points and Dallas Scaggs four points.
Against Arvin, Levi Garrett led the team with 11 points, while Jason Kerns and Cory Lange both finished with nine points on the night.
Freshmen
After a couple of heartbreaking losses in the second week of the league season, the Indians have come back with a vengeance en route to a 31-16 victory over Taft and a 44-15 thrashing of Arvin.
Tehachapi (6-3; 3-2 SSL) had high statistical marks against Taft from Justin Hedberg with nine points and six rebounds, while Ryan Harris had six points and Alex Khoury and Cody Hall five rebounds each.
Alec Johnson led the way against Arvin with 10 points, while Ryan Harris had nine points and Cody Hall eight points and eight boards. Cody Brown was also solid on defense with five recorded rebounds in the contest.
