The Buccaneers boys varsity basketball team went undefeated in the Otay Ranch Invitational Shootout tournament to claim the championship Wednesday, Dec. 20.
Since several of the football players finished their season and have moved over to the hard court, the Bucs have won six straight games.
“We’ll have a pretty good team this year. We have some talented players who are maturing,” said Mission Bay head basketball coach Dennis Kane. “Seeing them achieve their potential is going to be exciting.”
The Bucs won two out of three games in the Kiwanis Tournament before heading south to the Otay Ranch Shootout Dec 18-20.
In the first round the Bucs dispatched H-Town Christian 68-20 Dec 18. The overpowering Bucs jumped out to a 21-2 first quarter lead before coasting to the easy victory.
Mission Bay senior James Hancock used all his 6-foot 5-inch height to deliver a dominating 34 point performance.
Hancock again led the scoring with 23 followed by 18 points from Demsas Tsegai during the Bucs’ 68-49 win the next night against Mar Vista. Hancock is on track to exceed his 21.3 points-per-game average last season.
In the championship game the Bucs met a more challenging squad from Granite Hills. Holding a 29-23 lead at halftime, they kept building up their defensive pressure. In the final quarter they out scored them 18-8 to claim the 58-38 victory.
Hancock earned Tournament MVP. In the final game he delivered 31 points for Mission Bay, while Issac Parham had 13 points, Avery Petty 1, D. Tsegai 3 and brother Esias Tsegai 6. Parham was also named to the Shootout All-Tournament Team.
The pre season scouting book had Mission Bay ranked ninth in the county.
“I don’t really like being highly rated ” it puts a lot of pressure on them,” Kane said. “We are in a very tough league, and we just have to take one game at a time.”
The Bucs will participate in the Surf N Slam tournament “Slam” Division, being held at Mission Bay High Dec 27-30. They should be appearing in the 3:15 p.m. game Dec 29. Tournament information is available at www.basketballtravelers.com under the high school brackets.
The Bucs will next host Madison High Wednesday, Jan. 3, at 4:30 p.m. The girls game starts at 3 p.m.
Western League play will begin against a powerful Scripps Ranch team Friday, Jan. 5, at 7 p.m. in Scripps. They will face St. Augustine in their next home game Feb. 9 at 4 :30 p.m. The girls game against OLP starts at 3 p.m. The season continues through Feb 16.
MBHS basketball program information is available after the holidays from the school at (858) 273-1313 or at x119 from boys head coach Dennis Kane.
There will also be a college Surf N Slam tournament being held at USD’s Jenny Craig Pavilion for the Torero women’s squad Dec 28-30, including Amber Sprague and Amanda Rego of Pacific Beach. Information is also available on the Basketball Travelers Web site about those games.