Legionnaires win basketball opener

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Bonsall High School’s basketball team was victorious in the Legionnaires’ 2021-22 season opener.

The Legionnaires had a Nov. 16 home game against Borrego Springs and won by a 65-8 score.

“It was good to get a win,” said Bonsall coach Chuck Colletti.

Colletti wishes the Legionnaires could have had a higher level of competition. “They only had six kids,” he said of the Rams. “The competition level wasn’t what it should have been.”

Bonsall has 12 boys on the roster including three freshmen and two seniors who have not previously played high school basketball. “We have a bunch of new players,” Colletti said.

Six players are entirely new to the team and two others did not play in 2020-21 due to grades. The margin of victory allowed Colletti to use Bonsall’s new players and provide them with court time. “It gave them a chance to get on the court and play,” Colletti said. “Everybody played. Everybody got some minutes.”

Bonsall held a 24-5 lead at the end of the first period. “We started playing the bench players at the start of the second quarter,” Colletti said.

Sitting the starters allowed the substitutes to obtain experience but didn’t achieve the goal of not trying to run up the score. Bonsall scored all 18 of the second-period points.

Many of the substitutes were not conditioned to play three quarters or were not experienced enough to stay out of foul trouble, so Colletti returned starters to the court during the second half although he tried to keep as many substitutes on the floor as possible. The Legionnaires had a 16-1 scoring advantage in the third period before scoring seven of the nine fourth-quarter points.

“The team executed well. We ran our sets well. Our defense was okay,” Colletti said.

Some mistakes were made although not in terms of preparation. “In our defensive sets, everybody was where they were supposed to be, so that’s a good sign,” Colletti said.

All 12 Bonsall players saw action and nine of them scored with the other three grabbing at least two rebounds. The three leading scorers are all seniors: Emil Watkins had 13 points; Angel Ortega contributed 11 points, and Nate Valera placed shots totaling 10 points into the basket. Watkins made all six of his free throw shots. The leading rebounder, sophomore Nathan Winebrenner, had seven offensive rebounds and five defensive boards for a total of 12. Ryan Skaine, who is a freshman, led the team with four assists. Hady Rahman, a junior, was the team leader with nine steals. As a team, Bonsall had 47 rebounds, 26 steals, and 16 assists.

Practice began Nov. 8. “We played eight days after we started practice,” Colletti said.

Watkins and Valera have both been on the varsity for four years and are this season’s team captains.

Bonsall’s next home game will be Dec. 7 against High Tech Mesa. “We’re looking forward to having a good season,” Colletti said.