Eagles get statement win against Foothill

(Robert Vendettoli/Boulder City Review) Junior Ethan Speaker slams home a thunderous dunk against Foothill on Monday, Jan. 6, in Boulder City High School’s 69-53 victory.

Boulder City High School boys basketball team routed 4A Foothill 69-53 on Monday, Jan. 6, making a statement to the rest of the 3A classification.

“This win against Foothill was definitely a statement win for the program,” junior Ethan Speaker said. “We have been playing against most of those kids since we were younger and we usually did not come out victorious. This was a huge momentum booster and I think it will give us all the confidence to know that when we are playing well, we are a very tough team to beat.”

Traveling to the perennial 4A state contender, the Eagles’ statement win came after a sloppy first half of play, outscoring the Falcons 47-24 in the second half.

Speaker was on fire in the second half, scoring a game-high 25 points in the victory.

Providing clutch plays and highlights down the stretch to close out the Falcons, Speaker grabbed a rebound late in the fourth quarter, splitting a pair of defenders in transition and took the ball coast to coast for a layup. That and a monster and-one dunk from senior Jacob Sanford were momentum changers in the game for the Eagles.

“We have a lot of good players on our team and sometimes you have to remind guys how skilled they are,” head coach John Balistere said. “Jacob’s dunk was the start of a big second half run for us and Ethan really came alive. The whole team played great in the second half.”

Taking down the Falcons behind a total team effort, the Eagles played their most complete game of basketball of the season.

Scoring in double figures for the Eagles were Sanford (13 points) and junior Matt Morton (12 points).

Senior guard Gavin Balistere added 8 points and junior guard Matt Felsenfeld scored 6 points.

“This was definitely a huge win for us,” Morton said. “When we all start to play together and we all have our confidence, we know that we are a very dangerous team. We all know what we are capable of and when we all work together, we are a serious contender.”

The Eagles will travel to 4A Cheyenne on Friday, Jan. 10, followed by a home contest against rival Moapa Valley on Tuesday, Jan. 14.

Contact Robert Vendettoli at BCRsports@gmail.com.