Legionnaires enter winter break with 3-2 basketball record

Joe Naiman

Village News Reporter

Bonsall High School’s basketball team now has a 3-2 record.

The record reflects two fewer games than were scheduled for the calendar year 2021 portion of the Legionnaires’ 2021-22 season. “We had seven games, but we only ended up playing five,” said Bonsall coach Chuck Colletti. “We had some cancellations.”

The Legionnaires actually played four games; the Dec. 7 scheduled home game against High Tech Mesa was forfeited by the Thunder. Bonsall’s planned games against Rock Academy and Borrego Springs were postponed and will be played during 2022.

“We had some kids that got sick. It wasn’t covid. They were just sick,” Colletti said.

Rock Academy and Borrego Springs would also have had players out due to illness. “It wasn’t because of covid,” Colletti said. “We both decided to just put them off.”

The Legionnaires will play the entire season without senior Elijah Watkins, who broke his kneecap in the final regular-season game of 2020-21. Watkins missed the playoffs, and the injury turned out to involve tears in both his anterior cruciate ligament and his medial collateral ligament. Watkins’ doctor told Watkins not to play basketball for at least one year. “It’s just a shame for his senior year,” Colletti said.

Bonsall’s season began Nov. 16 at home with a 65-8 triumph over Borrego Springs. On Dec. 1, the Legionnaires traveled to Temecula for a game at St. Jeanne de Lestonnac Catholic School. The Mustangs prevailed by a 50-43 margin.

“Good game,” Colletti said.

Bonsall had leads of 15-10 after the first quarter, 25-21 at halftime, and 31-30 at the end of the third period. “We had the game in our hands with about three or four minutes left and we just turned the ball over,” Colletti said. “The last three minutes we just did not take care of the ball real well.”

The Mustangs made the most of their fourth-quarter possessions. “We played good defense, but they hit their shots so I commend them. We forced them to outside shots, which is what we wanted, but they hit them,” Colletti said. “It happens.”

Two Legionnaires scored in double figures: senior Emil Watkins had 14 points and sophomore Nathan Winebrenner provided 11 points. Winebrenner pulled down nine rebounds, Watkins grabbed eight boards, and junior Hady Rahman recorded seven rebounds. Rahman led the team with four assists while Watkins and junior Isaac Alcantar dished out three assists apiece.

All seven of Rahman’s rebounds were when the Legionnaires were on defense. “Hady Rahman played some real good defense for us,” Colletti said. “It was just one of those games where our bench did not contribute the way we wanted.”

In the victory against Borrego Springs, the starters were rested early to try not to run up the score as well as to provide the reserves with experience although the Rams only had six players and the Legionnaires’ margin kept increasing. In the game against St. Jeanne de Lestonnac, the Bonsall reserves were put in to allow rest for the starters.

“When you lose a close game it hurts, but the biggest thing you take away from that is you were in the game,” Colletti said. “We played hard enough to win. We should have won. It hurts, but it’s a learning experience and we just move forward.”

The Warner High School season has been hampered by two coronavirus quarantines. The Wildcats were able to play three games in a four-day period between the quarantines, concluding with a 53-45 home win Dec. 2 against Bonsall.

“That’s another game that we should have had,” Colletti said.

Warner held a 14-11 lead after the first period, although Bonsall had a 25-24 halftime advantage and led by a 34-32 margin at the end of the third quarter. “We got behind early, but the team showed true grit and fought back,” Colletti said.

The Wildcats had a 21-11 scoring advantage in the fourth period. “The turnover bugaboo bit us again at the end,” Colletti said.

“We had a strong fourth quarter,” Warner coach Ricardo Lara. said. The Legionnaires played the entire second half without senior Nate Valera, who drew a charging foul during the second quarter but hit his head on the floor. “That hurt a lot because he was playing real good at that time,” Colletti said.

This time the substitutes fared better on the court. “Angel Ortega played real well for us off the bench,” Colletti said.

Ortega, a senior, scored five points and had three assists and two steals. Watkins led the team with 17 points and with 13 rebounds. Alcantar had team highs of four assists and three steals.

The Legionnaires made 12 of their 42 two-point attempts and four of 11 three-point shots in what was the Wildcats’ first win of the season. “We were able to run our defensive scheme better,” Lara said.

The School for Entrepreneurship and Technology made a trip to Bonsall for a Dec. 9 game. The Lions took the game to overtime before Bonsall ended the fifth period with the Legionnaires’ first on-court victory since the season opener.

“Very exciting game,” Colletti said.

Bonsall was ahead by a 13-11 margin after the first quarter and held a 25-20 halftime lead. The Lions had scoring advantages of 11-9 in the third period and 9-6 in the fourth quarter to create a 40-40 score at the end of regulation.

“We had some turnover problems in the fourth quarter again,” Colletti said.

Bonsall’s problems also included a SET player Colletti estimated to be 6’6” and 240 pounds. “He scored a lot of their points from inside, but we stopped him when we were supposed to,” Colletti said.

Making only 12 of 27 free throw attempts was another Bonsall problem. “We shot terrible from the free throw line,” Colletti said.

Two of the successful free throws were at critical moments. The Legionnaires actually trailed by four points in the final minute of the fourth quarter. With 30 seconds remaining, Winebrenner made a shot, was fouled, and made the free throw. That put Bonsall down by one while giving the Lions possession. “We pressed. SET threw the ball away and Emil Watkins got fouled with four seconds left,” Colletti said.

Watkins made one of the two free throw attempts, sending the game into overtime. “We kind of traded baskets and then Emil Watkins hit a three with about two seconds left in the game,” Colletti said.

Bonsall had a 44-43 lead when Watkins took that shot, and the three-point bucket finalized the score at 47-43.

“It was a good way to end,” Colletti said.

“I wasn’t real happy with the way we played,” Colletti said. “Defensively we played real well again. On the offensive end we’re having a lot of growing pains.”

The Legionnaires made 16 of 50 shots from the field; Bonsall was successful on 13 of 38 two-point attempts and three of 12 shots from behind the three-point arc. Watkins had 15 points and Winebrenner scored 13. Winebrenner pulled down 16 rebounds and Watkins took eight balls off the glass. Watkins led the team with three assists. The Legionnaires had 25 steals led by nine by Rahman and five from Watkins.

“All in all I was real happy with the way we played defense,” Colletti said.

Bonsall was in the Sierra League for the 2020-21 season and won the league championship with an 8-0 record in league matches. The Legionnaires reached the second round of the CIF Division V playoffs and had a 16-6 overall record. Bonsall was moved from the Patriot League to the Sierra League for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons but will return to the Patriot League for 2021-22. The Legionnaires’ league opponents will be Bayfront Charter, The Cambridge School, Health Sciences, and Southern California Yeshiva.

“The league’s going to be tougher,” Colletti said.

Bonsall’s status as defending league champions will make the Legionnaires a target for opponents. “Everybody is after us now,” Colletti said. “We’re going to have a tough road ahead, but I think the boys are ready.”

Patriot League competition for Bonsall will begin Jan. 12 at Bayfront Charter. The pre-league schedule will continue with a home game Jan. 4 against Castle Park and a road game Jan. 6 at Valley Center.

“I think this two-week break is exactly what we needed,” Colletti said.