Warrior Basketball
Warrior senior Dougan Patience (#13) was impressive in the recent
Shafter-Kiwanis Tournament. Photo by The Tehachapi News
Posted by Tom Shea, The Tehachapi News, on January 5, 2010 Warriors Take Consolation Title In Shafter
After a successful month on the hard court by Mountain Basketball, the buzz of a potential return to league supremacy seems to be a possibility for the Warriors.
Validating that claim was a recent successful performance in the Shafter-Kiwanis Tournament, where the Warriors took four of five games, just getting edged out of the tournament first place crown by Highland-Bakersfield in the semifinals.
"We were pleased with the effort, this is a clutch team that we have this year," said coach Jim Clark. "We were down 18-2 against Highland and we had to systematically fight back in that game. We almost pulled it off but just came up short."
Tehachapi (9-5) only had the one loss in the tournament against Highland by a 65-61 count, taking tournament victories against Dinuba (68-55), Bakersfield Adventist (56-50), South-Bakersfield (60-55) and Kern Valley (63-56).
"One thing I will say about this years group is they have poise," added Clark. "They don't shake. They make their free throws and they fight all the way to the end. As a coach that’s all you can ask for."
Dougan Patience and Jordan Beardsley were named to the all-tourney team, but the selection committee said that four Warriors could have potentially made the elite class, noting the efforts of Corey and Christian Torres.
"We really had a great tournament, to have two guys make all-tourney was great, and we could have had four. We had the one hiccup against Highland, but overall all the guys played well and it was fun to be apart of," said coach Bruce Schkade.
Patience finished with 72 points to lead all Warrior scorers and Beardsley had 53 points in five games. In the consolation finals against Kern Valley, Beardsley suffered a sprained ankle but has been resting and is expected to be 100 percent by league tip-off next week.
Other high-scorers included Christian Torres with 68 points, Corey Torres with 37 points, Robert Siegmund with 35 points and Cory Lange with 17 points.
Justin Hedberg also contributed with 10 points, while Travis Farewell, Dallas Scaggs and Matt Santos all had baskets.
The Warriors will have three contests this week against Golden Valley (Monday, Jan. 4 at home), and then three straight road contests against El Diamante (Tuesday, Jan. 5), Kern Valley (Friday, Jan. 8) and the league opener next Friday against Wasco.
"We know that BCHS is the team to beat in league, but Coach (Olofson) and I would be disappointed if we didn't compete for a league title this year. I think we're right in the mix," Clark said. "Hopefully the community will come out and see these guys in action, they've really improved leaps and bounds. Our expectations have been raised."
Posted by The Tehachapi News, on December 28, 2009 Warriors Start Strong At Shafter-Kiwanis Tourney
Tehachapi (8-4) has been impressive against a talented field at the Shafter-Kiwanis Tournament this past week, winning their first three games with victories over Dinuba (68-55), Bakersfield Adventist (56-50) and South-Bakersfield (60-55).
Jordan Beardsley was the leading scorer for the Warriors through the first three games with 43 points, followed by Christian Torres with 39 points, Dougan Patience with 35 points and Corey Torres with 28 points.
Robert Siegmund also scored 16 points, Cory Lange 12 points, and Justin Hedberg 10 points to round out the field.
Posted by The Tehachapi News, on December 14, 2009 Warriors Record Victories In Tourney Play
Mountain Basketball is off to a .500 start to their year, recording high-scoring outputs in victories at the Rosamond and Corcoran Tournaments to start the young season.
At Rosamond, the Warriors took victories over Burroughs-Ridgecrest (53-34), Paraclete (82-76) in overtime, and Littlerock (70-56) falling only to Antelope Valley (71-60) in pool play.
Against Littlerock, Christian Torres had a monster game with eight three-pointers in the 14-point win.
"Christian had a great game, since I've coached I've never seen a performance from the perimeter like that," said head coach Chris Olofson. "As a team we're getting there, I like what I've seen so far."
In the Corcoran Pizza Factory Tournament, Tehachapi succombed to a pair of losses against Redwood (83-77) and Exeter (66-64), but came back in pool play to defeate Granite Hills - Porterville (65-58).
Robert Siegmund led the team against Redwood with 16 points, while Christian Torres and Jordan Beardsley had 14 points each and Dougan Patience 12 points.
"All the games we've played have been competitve. Redwood was a solid team and we came back from nine-down in the fourth quarter against Exeter to force overtime. We just couldn't pull it out," added Olofson.
Against Exeter, Beardsley had 17 points, Patience had 15 points, and Christian Torres had 13 points.
In the win over Granite Hills, Tehachapi had four players reach double-digit scoring, with Corey Torres leading the team with 15 points, Beardsley with 14 points, Patience netting 13 points, and Christian Torres firing for 11 points.
"We feel we can compete with anybody and so far we're showing that," Olofson said. "We still have some work to do, but we'll be fine in a couple of weeks."
The Warriors will particpate in the Shafter-Kiwanis Tournament this weekend, and will have their next home game on Jan. 4 against Golden Valley - Bakersfield.
