Sullivan boys' basketball team finishes 4-6

The Sullivan Middle School boys’ basketball team completed its season with a 4-6 record.

“The story of our season is that because of the fires we lost a lot of practices at the beginning of the year when we really needed it,” Sullivan coach Jeff White said. “We had a couple of weeks of practices before the fires, and things were going well.”

The Dec. 7 Lilac Fire closed the campus, and an ember burned a hole in the gymnasium roof. Subsequent rain not only complicated the roof repair but also restricted the ability of the Wildcats to practice on an outside court.

White had scheduled 25 practices, and eight of those were lost due to the inability to use the gymnasium.

“For the first two games, it didn’t go very well,” White said.

The Sullivan team consisted of 13 boys. Only four of those had been involved with the program, including at the junior varsity level, for three years.

“A lot of them it was their first season on an organized team, and most of the rest of them, last year was their first season,” White said.

Sullivan, Olive Peirce Middle School in Ramona and Valley Center Middle School comprised the league. The Wildcats, Bullpups – Olive Peirce feeds into Ramona High School, whose nickname is the Bulldogs – and Hornets each played three games against each other, and each school had four contests against other North County schools. Olive Peirce won the league championship. Sullivan posted a 2-4 record against Olive Peirce and Valley Center.

“Still we’re happy with second place,” White said.

Sullivan’s final game of the season, Feb. 22, was a 55-39 triumph against San Marcos Middle School.

“They kept making improvements and they closed out the season pretty well,” White said. “It was a fun year. Everyone made improvements. Everyone worked hard.”

The Sullivan stars included eighth-grader Kiefer Elkins.

“I would say he was our MVP,” White said.

Jordan Skinn and Aaron Barclay also were among the top players.

“Jordan and Aaron were big contributors,” White said.

Twelve of the Sullivan varsity players are eighth-graders, and one seventh-grade boy made this year’s varsity team.

Sullivan’s junior varsity won the league championship.

“They were actually really good,” White said. “I’ll have them next year.”

Daniel Mencias coached the junior varsity squad. John White was Jeff White’s assistant coach.