LAS FLORES – The Tesoro boys basketball team beat Village Christian of Sun Valley, 60-56, in a nonleague game Friday at Tesoro High.
Village Christian was the CIF-SS 1AA champion last season and entered Friday’s game undefeated this season.
“I’ve known Coach (John) Shaw for 20 years. They are a championship team and it’s fun to play them,” Tesoro coach Steve Garrett said of Village Christian. “We had great teamwork. We did enough to win, and I’m really proud of our guys.”
The Crusaders (5-1) led for much of the game and carried a nine-point lead into halftime. Isaac Etter had 13 points in the first half, making all three of his 3-point attempts.
Isaiah Mahmud had 12 of Tesoro’s 15 points in the first quarter, but the hot shooting didn’t continue in the second quarter. The Titans scored six points and made just two shots from the floor in the quarter.
Devon Modster and Stephen Melanson took over the game in the second half and brought Tesoro within reach of the Crusaders. The pair made back-to-back 3-pointers to open the second half, and scored 32 of Tesoro’s 39 second-half points.
Tesoro (4-2) tied the score at 32, but a 3-pointer by Josh Caston put the Crusaders back in the lead, quieting the Tesoro crowd. Village Christian had a four-point lead entering the fourth quarter.
The Titans went on an 11-0 run to begin the fourth and never looked back.
“We came out and competed,” Melanson said. “We didn’t care about our ranking or how good they were.”
The Titans held the 7-foot-1 Majur Majak to just three points.
“We played zone defense on him and tried to slowly push him out (of the paint),” Modster said. “I put a body on him and it seemed to be working.”
