By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor To say Blair covered all their bases in Tuesday night’s 79-61 victory over visiting Jurupa Valley in the CIF-SS Division 4-AA quarterfinals would be an understatement. The Vikings had four players in double figures (scoring), and another had 9 points. Blair’s rebounding led to easy put-back baskets, and their defense […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor
To say Blair covered all their bases in Tuesday night’s 79-61 victory over visiting Jurupa Valley in the CIF-SS Division 4-AA quarterfinals would be an understatement.
The Vikings had four players in double figures (scoring), and another had 9 points.
Blair’s rebounding led to easy put-back baskets, and their defense held the Jaguars (17-11) to just 18 points in the first half.
Jurupa Valley got 23 points from Damian Givens, but the Jaguars never got closer than 15 points in the second half.
Blair (23-6) is now on to the semifinals Friday at Woodcrest Christian (24-6) at 7, and some on the Vikings side believe a finals appearance would be their first since 1981.
“We prepared well for this team,” Blair coach Alon Margalit said. “We knew their strengths and weaknesses, and we had a good game plan coming in. Our kids executed it well. The balance attack was huge. You can’t key on just one player on this team.”
Dez Washington led Blair with 17, including three slam dunks that got his team, coaches and crowd out of their seats. The final of his three dunks actually included free-throws and the ball out of bounds, because the Jaguars player was called for a flagrant foul.
“We came out playing defense and our defense led to our offense,” Washington said. “We want to go all the way. We don’t want to stop here. Our defense and energy was what I was most proud of.”
Dallas Murray had 17 points, and Gabe Snow was consistent throughout and finished with 16 points.
“We clicked tonight very well. We had good practices throughout the week,” Snow said. “We communicated really well (on defense), which is hard to do in a gym this loud.”
Dakan came off the bench and did what he does best, he immediately hit a 3-point basket, and then went on to score a lay up, got fouled and made the free-throw.
The senior guard finished with 13 points, and 11 came in the first half when the Vikings separated itself from Jurupa Valley.
“Our intensity and ball movement was key,” Dakan said. “I always try and come off the bench and give us a spark. My teammates trust me to take shots. We’re taking this game-to-game.”
Jordan Hall had 9 for Blair and Caleb Smith’s 6 points came on a pair of 3-point baskets.
Snow, Dakan and Smith all had two 3-pointers.
Box Score:
Jurupa Valley: 9-9-20-23-(61)
Blair: 15-22-24-18-(79)
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