Border League Recap

<p>Anyone who knows anything about national high school basketball has heard of the Border League event that occurred on October 23-25, 2020 in multiple gyms across Gilbert, Arizona. This event highlighted the top 80 West Coast high schools and prep schools with some of the top talent in the country.  I watched the only New Mexico high school team invited... Cleveland High School, play in the California Division. Cleveland played under the name of Big Blue. </p> <p>I watched 2 games Big Blue played. The first team was San Diego Select from San Diego California. </p> <p>Big Blue had another quick start with [player_tooltip player_id="1076622" first="Evan" last="Gonzales"] hitting some deep deep three point shots. [player_tooltip player_id="1076623" first="Nathan" last="Hasberry"] once again was aggressive and found himself shooting free throws. That kid lives on the free throw line! San Diego select answered by running a half court trap against Big Blue. The reward paid off forcing Big Blue to speed up the game which caused multiple turnovers giving San Diego Select the lead. The game started getting a little heated and San Diego Select picked up a technical foul. [player_tooltip player_id="1076622" first="Evan" last="Gonzales"] got hot in the first half hitting three 3 point shots and getting some big layups giving Big Blue a 22-17 lead. </p> <p>San diego Select fought hard in the second half making it a very close game. In the end the three headed snake of [player_tooltip player_id="1076622" first="Evan" last="Gonzales"], [player_tooltip player_id="1076621" first="Tre" last="Watson"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1076623" first="Nathan" last="Hasberry"] was just too much to handle for San Diego Select. All three players were explosive shooting the ball well and being aggressive underneath the basket. Big Blue won 81-78. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The second game was against Rancho Solano Prep School out of Scottsdale, Arizona. </p> <p>This game was an absolute nail biter. [player_tooltip player_id="1076638" first="Jeff" last="Davison"] had a great first half with multiple steals and a solid three point bank shot that gave Big Blue an early lead. Rancho Solano answered with many explosive dunks and hit key three pointers to fight back. Big Blue kept pouring it on with relentless defense and an offense carried by [player_tooltip player_id="1076623" first="Nathan" last="Hasberry"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1076622" first="Evan" last="Gonzales"]. Hasberry seemed to be to much for Rancho Solano in the first half. He got a lot of tip ins and mid range shots where he was constantly fouled and sent to the free throw line. Gonzales played excellent making some key three pointers and constantly attacked the basket.</p> <p>Just when you thought Big Blue was going to run away with the lead Rancho Solano gets 3 steals to get them back in the game. Rancho Solano was aggressive shooting the long ball which payed off ending the first half with a 8 point lead. Then out of nowhere Rancho Solano gets called for a technical foul which allows Big Blue to get within 5 points at the half. </p> <p>Rancho Solano has a good start to the second half scoring the first two baskets. Big Blue tries to answer and turns over the ball twice in the first 2 minutes of play. Big Blue goes back and forth with Rancho Solano to get within a bucket. Rancho Solano just ended up being to tough on defense edging out Big Blue with a 67-66 victory knocking Big Blue out of the Championship bracket. </p> <p>Players of the game for both games were [player_tooltip player_id="1076623" first="Nathan" last="Hasberry"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1076622" first="Evan" last="Gonzales"]. Both were a problem for defenders. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p>