Also serving the communities of De Luz, Rainbow, Camp Pendleton, Pala and Pauma

Legionnaires 1-1 in CIF basketball playoffs

The first-ever CIF playoffs for Bonsall High School's basketball team resulted in the Legionnaires winning their first-round game before being eliminated in the quarterfinals.

"All in all, it was a great season for Bonsall High School," said Bonsall coach Chuck Colletti. "A lot of firsts for Bonsall basketball."

The Legionnaires' regular-season record of 15-5 included an 8-0 performance in Sierra League competition. "Going 8 and 0 in league, that's the biggest thing," Colletti said.

The undefeated league season gave the Legionnaires the school's first basketball league championship. How the Legionnaires fared in their 20 total regular-season games resulted in the May 29 CIF playoff selection and seeding meeting decision to give Bonsall the fifth seed in the Division V playoffs. Sierra League opponent Coastal Academy was given the 12th seed, so the Stingrays traveled to Bonsall for a June 1 playoff game.

The first-round game ended as a 67-37 Bonsall victory. "We just came out with fire in our eyes from the opening," Colletti said. "We just wanted it. We played very good defense."

Bonsall held a 31-15 halftime lead, and the Legionnaires expanded their advantage to 50-23 by the end of the third period. "We just really shut them down," Colletti said. "It was a total team effort on the defensive end."

On the offensive end, four Legionnaires scored in double figures. "It was a total team effort," Colletti said.

While the Legionnaires played June 1, they didn't have their full team for the playoffs. In the final regular-season game, junior Elijah Watkins broke his kneecap and could not play during the postseason.

Watkins started the season as a substitute and worked his way into the starting lineup. "He had a great year for us," Colletti said.

Without Watkins, the Legionnaires only had seven players for the playoffs. That was sufficient for the first-round game against Coastal Academy but taxing on the team during the June 5 quarterfinal at fourth-seeded St. Joseph Academy. "Three of the seven played the whole 32 minutes," Colletti said. "We just got tired."

St. Joseph led the entire game. The Crusaders led by 10 points after the first quarter and six points at halftime.

"A couple of things reared its ugly head that kind of told the story of part of our season," Colletti said.

"We didn't rebound as well as we had in other games," Colletti said. "We shot very badly at the free throw line."

Bonsall closed the gap to four points with six minutes remaining. "Second half we battled them back and forth," Colletti said. "We were playing really good defense the second half and we were hitting some shots."

The final score was 70-55. "Final six minutes it just got away from us," Colletti said.

The loss finalized Bonsall's record at 16-6. "The disappointment was there," Colletti said.

At the beginning of the season the team likely would not have been disappointed to achieve a league championship and a playoff win in the program's fifth season. "They put Bonsall basketball on the map," Colletti said.

Author Bio

Joe Naiman, Writer

Joe Naiman has been writing for the Village News since 2001

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 
Rendered 03/26/2024 05:45