Bonsall splits league games

Bonsall High School's varsity boys' basketball team (7-10, 3-5) split its two home games last week in league play.

The team beat Bayfront Charter High School 71-45, Tuesday, Jan. 28, to avenge an early-season loss. Then, Thursday, Jan. 30, the Legionnaires fell short against Ocean View Christian High School 61-45, after fighting back from 20 points down at the half.

Now in his second year of coach of the Legionnaires, Head Coach Chuck Colletti said he is happy about the way his team has been playing.

"As I said early in the year, the one thing about this group of boys versus last year is last year we finished 12-9, and everybody was pretty excited as far as the level of the way we played and stuff like that," Colletti said. "I heard the year before they went like 3-18 and the program was really down in the dumps. This year's team just seems to play really hard night in and night out, and that's what I keep telling them – that they should be proud of themselves because they, no matter what's going on, they really play hard.

"Last year's team had some talent, and so it was kind of a little bit easier and we had a little bit of an easier schedule last year. We definitely took on some harder teams this year," he said.

Colletti said the program had 12 players on the team last year, but this year they only have nine on the roster. He is hoping some more talent comes out next year to keep the program progressing.

"To be honest with you, Bonsall basketball is in need of an interjection here of some kids," Colletti said. "We're hoping next year that more kids will come out. I keep hearing rumors that some kids are going to be transferred from Fallbrook and other schools because the schools are bigger and they don't have the opportunity to play. So, that's what I try to sell – once they get to Bonsall, though a small high school, there's a better opportunity for a student to play."

Colletti was pleased with the way his team played Tuesday.

"The Bayfront Charter game was probably our best game of the year that we played, both offensively and defensively," he said. "We had only lost to them at their place by 11, and we beat them this time by 26 points. So, it was undoubtedly our best game of the year."

Colletti said a home-court advantage helped the Legionnaires.

"Against Bayfront Charter, I'll just be honest with you, the one advantage we have is our gym is a smaller gym because Bonsall doesn't have its own gym," he said. "When we get onto a bigger court, we just seem not to function as well on the defensive side as we should. But at home, it just seems like you don't have as much area to cover. We tend to really play better defense, and I've always been more on the defensive side versus the offensive side because I just feel that if you play good defense, you always have a chance to win."

The defense pressure took a toll on the visitors.

"Of course, we shot the ball very well," Colletti said. "That was the key to it. Once we put up a good lead on them, they kind of petered out. That's what high school basketball teams do. Kids just stop playing once they get down. It's hard to get them rejuvenated to believe that you can always pull the game out."

In Thursday's game against Ocean View Christian, Colletti said fatigue may have played a factor in the result.

"We started out real slow, we were down by 20 at the half," Colletti said. "We had a great third quarter and we cut it down to 7. But it just seemed like it just took all the energy out of us to get it down to 7 and then we just kind of fell apart the last three, four minutes of the game.

"The margin was bigger than what really happened in that game because we got back into it, and I think the boys just got tired and we just didn't play well on the defensive side," he said.

The Legionnaires were scheduled to play Horizon Prep High School on the road Tuesday, Feb. 4, after press time, and will play a home game against Borrego Springs High School at 6 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 6. They will go on the road to take on High Tech High School in Mesa Friday, Feb. 7.

Jeff Pack can be reached by email at [email protected].