Finally home after participating in the Eureka tournament and being off the court since before the Christmas holiday, head coach Brandon Hodges and the Bruin boys varsity basketball team were on the hardwood Wednesday night hosting the North Valley Knights for the season opener.
Struggling to find the win column during pre-season, the Bruin boys were eager to get the season started looking to put a win in the books and set the tone for regular season play. After two weeks with out a game, offense for both teams played off of defensive schemes and turnovers as both teams looked to establish their gameplan early.
Scoring was hard to come by early in the first with the Bruins falling behind early scoring only 3 points midway through the first period of play. The Bruins put 3 players in score book in the period, however, North Valley had all their starters score in the first period, taking a 3-6 lead midway through the period and extending that lead 9-12 after the first period.
The Bruins applied no pressure back-court pressure on the Knights offense, dropping back into their 2-3 defense, relying on positioning and hustle to stop the North Valley attack. With a slight height advantage inside, the Bruins took advantage of the Knights poor shooting, controlling rebounds and denying second shot opportunities, and turning the second period into a defensive battle with the Bruins hitting only three shots in the period while defensively holding the Knights to just 7 points to close out the first half of play.
Starting the second half trailing the Knights 15-19, the Bruins had their biggest offensive period of the game, with four Bruin players scoring as the Bruins worked to close the gap. Senior Kallen Christensen, #1, led the way for the Bruin boys with 5 points in the period including a 3 pointer as the Bruins put 13 points on the board to tie the game at 28-28 after three periods of play.
After slowing the North Valley offense in the third, the Knights went to work in the fourth, again getting 5 players in the scoring column and getting to the freethrow line 9 times. But the Bruin boys stayed with the Knights late into the final period, staying within striking distance with score 37-38 with just over 2:00 minutes left to play. Late Bruin turnovers off of long cross court passes would prove to be the Bruins downfall late as the Knights ran on Bruin mistakes and got to the freethrow line to extend their lead late and take home the 39-44 win.
The Bruins are on the road this Friday evening, traveling to Medford to take on the Cascade Christian Challengers, coming off their own 108-23 win on the road over Rogue River.
