CONCORD, CA – To say Clayton Valley is off to the best start in school history would certainly be a bit of an understatement.
The host and Prep2Prep North Coast Section No. 5 ranked Ugly Eagles started a little slow on Wednesday night at home against No. 10 James Logan, but once they got rolling they took charge on both ends of the court in a decisive 73-57 victory.
With the win Clayton Valley goes to 12-0 to open the season and end the 2017 portion of the campaign, and according to Coach Eric Bamberger it far surpasses the best start in school history.
“I looked through all the school record books and the best start I could find was 7-0 in the early 1980’s,” Bamberger remarked.
Just like he has done all season 6-5 senior forward Nick Klarman, who has several D2 colleges after him, filled the stat sheet after finishing with 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists, four blocks and a steal.
Junior guard Zach Martinez had a team-high 18 points (two three-pointers) with four steals, three rebounds and two assists.
Like his team, senior guard Garrett Pascoe was a little sluggish to start, but he warmed up and finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Senior center JD Williams had a tough night offensively but had a game-high 12 rebounds and like the rest of the Ugly Eagles he played great defense.
“The key for us is intensity on defense, and the goal since I took over was to get to this level defensively,” said fifth-year coach Bamberger. “Our rotations have been great and we don’t let the other team relax or take a break.”
Both Klarman and Pascoe agreed with their coach.
“Our team defense has been the key to our offense and success this season,” Klarman said. “We’re trapping the ball well and transitioning out of it.”
“We key off our defense and tonight was a good example of a grind it out win for us,” Pascoe remarked. “The other thing is we have 12 guys on the team that have bought into their roles of unselfishness.”
The Ugly Eagles let the visitors hang around for most of the first half and after trailing 4-0 early they took a 31-26 lead into the locker room after two quarters. From there, however, the turnaround came quickly as the hosts opened the third quarter on a 12-2 run that pretty much sealed the deal.
A young Logan (7-4) lost its first three games to start the season but now saw a seven-game winning streak come to an end. The Colts got solid outings from the junior duo of Gabriel Hawkins and Malcolm Steadman but after that there was a big production drop-off. Hawkins, a 6-4 wing had 18 points, four rebounds and three blocks. The 6-5 Steadman had 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
Both teams are off the rest of this week and until after New Years. Clayton Valley has non-league games next week with Pittsburg and Deer Valley before opening DVAL – Foothill action in two weeks with Miramonte. Logan opens MVAL play a week from Friday at home versus American.
