Jan. 4, the Santiago Varsity Boy’s Basketball Team played their first home league game against city rival the Corona Panthers. The Sharks struggled with turnovers and making shots early, but defense and 33 points in the second half proved to be the difference as Santiago defeated Corona with a final score of 50-38. Just five days earlier the Sharks played at Roosevelt High School for their second league game of the season, but lost 58-61 bringing their league record to .500 and their overall record to 14-4. Corona came into the game with the same league record at 1-1, but a 14-3 overall record after a 72-66 victory over King High School.
The starting lineup for the Sharks consisted of seniors Marvin Butler, Markus Thompson, Chima Wami and juniors Matt Herring and Jason Dickson.
Santiago won the tip to start the game, but started slow on offense, scoring only eight points and committing six turnovers as a team in the entire first quarter. Butler, Dickson and Wami all scored two points each. Corona had similarities on both ends of the floor but were led by junior Ethan Alvano scoring seven of the Panther’s nine first-quarter points, shooting 50 percent and made one of two from the free-throw line. At the end of the first quarter Corona led Santiago 9-8 with Corona committing three team fouls and using no timeouts, and Santiago committing four team fouls and also using no timeouts.
The second quarter had more consistent offense from Santiago with the Sharks improving their first half shooting percentage to 54 percent, scoring nine points, seven assists as a team, and five rebounds. However the Sharks struggled from the free-throw line shooting three of fourteen (22 percent) and shot zero of six from the three-point line. Wami added four more points to his two point first quarter along with five rebounds and only one personal foul. Alvano continued to take over the Panther offense successfully shooting his one three-point attempt and two of two from the free-throw line, helping the Panthers to a 13-point second quarter. The Corona Panthers had a five point advantage going into halftime with a score of 22-17.
Coming out of halftime the Sharks knew that more defense and less turnovers were needed to have a better second half and take control of the game. Santiago took advantage of second chance opportunities from key rebounds by drawing fouls to put the Panthers in early foul trouble. Better defense was shown by the Sharks in the third quarter with four team steals (three by Thompson) and one block a piece from Jason Dickson and Wami. This prompted the Corona Panthers to call their first timeout with 6:02 left in the third quarter. Junior Brandon Guerrero replaced Butler at guard off the bench and played with full effort to give Santiago a comfortable lead. Guerrero led the Sharks in third quarter points on two free throws and shooting one of three from two-point range along with one assist to Herring. The Santiago Sharks scored 13 points, shot three of 11 from two-point range, seven of ten from the free-throw line and grabbed seven total rebounds as a team in the third quarter. Santiago led Corona 30 to 27 heading into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter started off close with Alvano continuing to dominate the Shark’s defense by hitting a three-pointer to tie the game at 30 with 7:14 left in the fourth. Less than a minute later Corona senior Zachary Perez hit another Panther three-pointer to give his team the lead with 6:30 left. However on the next Santiago possession Wami was fouled while shooting a post-up shot and was sent to the foul line for the fourth time in the game and made his first free throw to tie the game. Corona was sent to the free-throw line on their next possession where junior Derek Deap made one of two to give the Panthers the lead again with 5:14 left in the fourth quarter. This was the last lead for Corona with Herring scoring on the Sharks next two possessions and Thompson scoring off a rebound from a missed shot from Butler giving Santiago their biggest lead of the game at 39-34. The Sharks would score five more points without allowing a Panther basket giving the Sharks a comfortable lead at 44-34 with 2:14 left in the game. The 11-0 run for Santiago proved to be a key difference as the Sharks defeated the Corona Panthers with a 50-38 victory.
The Santiago starters had a combined 45 points, shot 48 percent from two-point range, two of five from the three-point line, made half of their shots from the free-throw line, and all five had a combined 22 rebounds.
