Magnolia's Justin Beskeen (11) drives towards the basket while Pleasant Valley's Ashton Diltz (15) defends. Action came from Thursday's opening Nevada County Athletic League 8th grade action at Lyman Gilmore. PV took a 65-49 win and advances to today's semi-finals at Nevada Union. obfoto.com
Gilmore tops UH; PV Outguns Rattlers
The upper seeds flexed their muscles Thursday afternoon at Lyman Gilmore School’s gymnasium in Grass Valley to set the stage Friday for a pair of attractive Nevada County Athletic League 8th grade boys basketball tournament semi-final tilts.
In Thursday’s first round opener, the host and third-seed Gilmore Bombers jumped out to a 9-2 lead and then capitalized on Union Hill foul trouble to hold the upper hand the rest of the way in a 49-36 win over the sixth seeded Bearcats.
Meanwhile, in the nightcap, a short-handed Magnolia squad was game for three and a half quarters but couldn’t overcome the balanced offensive punch of Pleasant Valley has four players reached double figure scoring in a 65-49 win by the Vikings.
The wins by Gilmore and PV advance the two squads to today’s semi-finals at Nevada Union with top-seeded Seven Hills, who drew a first round bye, and Weimar Hills, who defeated Forest Lake, 51-21, on Wednesday.
Today’s 3:45 p.m. opener at Nevada Union’s Ali Gymnasium pairs Gilmore and Weimar Hills. The Bombers defeated the Warriors both times in regular season league play.
In the 7:15 p.m. game it will be Seven Hills taking on Pleasant Valley. The Raiders and Vikings split their two league meetings this season while Seven Hills also posted a win over PV in the Weimar Hills tournament.
In a consolation game on Friday, Union Hill will take on Forest Lake at 8:30 p.m. at NU.
Magnolia, meanwhile, advances to Saturday’s 11;30 a.m. consolation game against the Union Hill-Forest Lake winner also at Nevada Union.
Here’s a recap of Thursday’s 8th Grade action:
Gilmore 49 Union Hill 36 – With NCAL scoring leader Jason Mickel on the sidelines for much of the first half saddled with three fouls, the host Bombers followed their 1-2-3 scoring punch of Cody Gardner, Trevor Bryant and Ian Davis to forge out to a 31-17lead by halftime and never look back.
Gardner led the win for Gilmore with 15 markers while Bryant and Davis each chipped in with 13.
Mickel tried to rally Union Hill in the second half and finished with a game-high 20 points. Gabe Saturnino added seven more for the Bearcats.
Pleasant Valley 65 Magnolia 49 – The No. 4 seed Vikings had to use a pair of 20-point efforts from Jared Cook and Weston Messer to overcome an upset bid by Magnolia.
The Rattlers, the No. 5 seed in the tournament, were without the services of three starters and had a total of five players missing from their line-up.
However, despite being shorthanded, Magnolia made a game of things trailing just 34-27 at halftime and by hanging around for much of the third and fourth quarters before the Vikings were able to put the game away.
Following Cook and Messer in the offensive column for the Vikings were Tanner Vallejo with 13 points and Kyle Cota with 10.
Magnolia was led by Andrew Harris’ 15 points, nine by Derek Ross, eight by Adam Quist and seven from Justin Beskeen.