Eagles enter new year on a high note

Fresh off a 4-1 finish in the Green Valley Christian Holiday Tournament, Boulder City High School is ready to attack the second half of the season.

“I thought we played some really good basketball this past weekend,” head coach John Balistere said. “We let that first game slip away from us and from there, I thought we were really sound. This group is ready for league play.”

Falling to Needles 72-67 in their first game, the Eagles would then go on to victories against Sloan Canyon (57-41), Southeast Career Technical Academy (54-47), California program Capistrano Valley Christian (61-59) and Green Valley Christian (79-50).

Leading the way for the Eagles, Branch Danko scored 21 points with seven rebounds and four assists against Sloan Canyon, while Levi Randall added 17 points and 12 rebounds.

Against Southeast Career Technical Academy, Tyler Bradshaw stole the show with a 19-point effort, while Randall added 13 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks.

Both Danko and Kason Turner added eight points each against Southeast Career Technical Academy.

Getting four players in double figures against Capistrano Valley Christian, Bradshaw led the way with 19 points, while Danko added 16 points.

Noah Lund had a breakout game with 13 points and and three assists, while Randall added 11 points and four rebounds.

“The more guys we can get to score for us, the better we’re going to be,” Balistere said. “We’ve relied a lot on Branch and Levi being our two returning big game. If we can take some pressure off of them and get other guys’ looks, that will help us moving forward.”

Getting great open looks against Green Valley Christian, the Eagles made 11 three-pointers on the night, while getting four players in double figures.

Hitting four three-pointers each, Bradshaw led the way with 22 points, while Turner added 14 points.

Lund scored 13 points, hitting three from long range, while Randall added 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“Hitting shots and getting into a rhythm is going to be key for us,” Balistere said. “We have great bigs who draw a lot of attention inside the paint, if we can kick it out to our shooters and have them knock it down, it’s going to make us a lot more versatile.”

Opening the year with a 9-5 record, the Eagles will host rival Virgin Valley on Friday, followed by road games at Sunrise Mountain on Monday and Green Valley Christian on Wednesday.