Elsinore Earns Playoff Spot After Victory Over Wildcats

#25 Chandler Sanders drives the ball in on #2 Preston Beverly

Facing Elsinore High School at home, Paloma Valley took on the challenge of taking on the only team still undefeated in Sunbelt League play. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they were unable to stop the Tigers' winning streak in league play and suffered a 70-46 defeat.

"They're not the league champs for four or five years in-a-row because they're chop liver. They're a great team," said Paloma Valley's Coach Michael Pfeiffer. "We've got a lot of respect for them. You have to play a near perfect game to beat them."

To beat Elsinore (17-7, 7-0), you have to stop the group of players that coaches and players from other teams have unofficially called "the big three." Seniors Preston Beverly and Trevon Lampkin, and junior Michael Taylor. While holding Lampkin scoreless in the first half and allowing scores to only three Elsinore players total, Beverly and Taylor were able to score 35 of the 37 points the Tigers scored in the first half.

"They have three big guns and you've got to take away at least one of them and hope that with the other two, that one of them is off a little bit," Coach Pfeiffer said about Beverly, Lampkin, and Taylor after the game.

In the second half, only 1 Elsinore point was scored by a player outside of "the big three."

Paloma Valley (9-14, 3-4) put up a strong first half as well, down by only 8 points at the half, but when they came out of the locker room after halftime was over, they were held to only single digit scores in the third and fourth quarters for a total of 17 points.

There were moments when the Wildcats looked brilliant on defense, such as when Manny Sandoval (pictured left) took two charges in the first half to halt the Tigers' momentum. Despite this, there were other times where the undersized Wildcats couldn't stop Elsinore from rebounding the ball on both offense and defense.

Elsinore came out in the second half more physical and in several occasions, Taylor and Beverly dunked the ball over the Wildcats' defenders. At times, the younger Paloma Valley players showed their frustrations with calls from the referees that they didn't agree with.

In the end the Tigers hit the 70-point mark with a little over a minute to go in the game. A mark that they have hit in every league game so far this season. The victory also guaranteed Elsinore a spot in this year's playoffs.

After the game, Coach Pfeiffer said, "They're just well coached and are a good team. We're just a little young this year. Maybe in a year or two we'll be ready to go and get them. Their senior leadership is just tough to beat."

Izaiah Cameron led the Wildcats in scoring with 12 points including 2 three-pointers made. He was followed by Cameron Whatley who scored 11 points. For the Tigers, Beverly scored 39 points and Taylor scored 16.

Paloma Valley has another tough battle coming up next, when they take on the Sunbelt League's second place team, Perris High School (16-7, 5-2) at home on Feb. 3.

#12 Parker Bell takes a shot from deep

#21 Blake Bouman looks to pass the ball to a teammate

#44 Cameron Whatley shoots after contact with #1 Nathaniel Dodson

Manny Sandoval, Nate Rivas-Blackwell, and Preston Beverly scramble for a loose ball

#20 Izaiah Cameron holds the ball while being approached by two Elsinore defenders