Nogales Boys' Basketball wins two in a row, while Walnut Boys Basketball remain Undefeated in League

The Nogales High School boys’ basketball team picked up its second win in a row Friday evening as they completed the season sweep of the Covina Colts, 57-40 in a Valle Vista League matchup.  Nogales won the first meeting between the two teams 49-44 earlier in the season.

The win is Nogales’ second win in a row after losing four of the last five games prior. 

“We had injuries to two of our key players,” Nogales head coach Joe Molnar said. “One of them came back which was very helpful.”

One of those injured, Justin Roque made his return in a big way, leading four Nobles in double digits dropping 17 with three rebounds and an assist.  Sean Jones added 12 points and six rebounds while Ethan Anonas added 11 points and four assists.   Andrew Bullock only had seven points but anchored the middle by grabbing 19 rebounds.

Molnar attests to Nogales’ struggles to turnovers and impatience on offense.

“We made a lot of turnovers.  For example we had 26 turnovers against Pomona,” he said. “We threw a lot of wild passes, but today we trusted our game plan more.”

Nogales went on a quick 9-1 run before the Colts knew what hit them enroute to a 16-6 lead heading into the second quarter.   Nogales would lead by as much as 20 points throughout the game.

“We are executing our game plan better,” Molnar said. “Today we played better defense.”

Gregory Hutchinson led the way for the Colts with 16 points (including 10 of Covina’s 15 points in the third quarter) and five rebounds.   Andres Guevara added 11 points for the Colts who fell to (9-16, 4-7)

Nogales has a busy week ahead, playing four games in five days beginning with a rescheduled game against Baldwin Park (3-21, 0-9) Monday evening.

WALNUT CONTINUES TO ROLL, EASILY DISPATCH BONITA 46-19

The Walnut High School boys’ basketball team completed a season sweep of the Bonita Bearcats Wednesday evening, easily dispatching the Bearcats 46-19 in a Hacienda League game.  Walnut barely escaped with a 64-61 victory in their first meeting.

Jeff Huang led the way for the Mustangs (19-5, 9-0), dropping a game high 11 points, four rebounds and three assists. Rob Harrelson each pitched in nine points, while LJ Besong added eight for the mustangs who are on a nine-game winning streak, and in sole possession of the league lead.

Tim Trisnaldi led the way with five points for the Bearcats (16-7, 4-5) who couldn’t get anything going for Bonita who was held to only 19 points in the entire game.  Kenny Walter added three points while four bearcats, including Darren Neff tallied two points.