By: Tyler Stark
The streak continues. The Redwood Rangers Men’s Basketball team defeated the El Diamante Miners, 62- 41, on Friday night to improve to (15-6) overall, and 4-0 in WYL play. They are on a current winning streak for four consecutive matchups.
Friday night’s matchup was a big one for the Rangers. El Diamante and Redwood have always had a tense rivalry, and both school’s fans and students really get into that rivalry whenever the teams face off. This resulted in an incredible crowd for Redwood. The student section was packed, and they were loud! According to Redwood starting forward Kolby Howard ‘22, the crowd was immensely impactful for the Rangers.
Ranger fans had a lot to cheer about. The Rangers never really found themselves playing from behind due to their early lead that only got bigger as the game progressed.
The only success El Diamante was able to find came in the first half; specifically, it came in the middle of the second quarter. At this point in the game, the Rangers were struggling with capitalizing on opportunities and scoring. The Miners were able to capitalize off some of the Ranger’s mistakes and get within six points of the Ranger lead; the score was 24-18 late in the second quarter.
Unfortunately for the Miners, getting within six points of the Ranger lead was the best thing they’d do all night. Redwood would end the first half on a 7-2 run, to make the score 31-20 at the half; they put themselves in a great position.
Power forward for the Miners, Max Martin ‘23, says that a big reason for the loss on Friday was turnovers. “For us as a team turnover has been a big factor in why we have been losing and in the game Friday that was a big reason.”
The Rangers would only get stronger in the second half. Redwood would start on a 6-1 run, and make the score 37-21 to start the second half. The Rangers did not look back for the rest of the game. They received high level performances from star players Kolby Howard ‘22, Joey Volchko ‘23. Nahir Karimi ‘22, and Miguel Willams ‘22.
Point guard Nahir Karimi ‘22 could not have been more thrilled about how his team played on Friday night. Karimi says, “We did what we had to do, we were prepared for everything and absolutely dominated every minute of the game.”
This game was huge for the Rangers; it puts their confidence at an all time high, heading into Tuesday night’s critical matchup against the undefeated Mount Whitney. On the other hand, while things could have gone better for the Miners, they still have a chance to show up in next week’s matchup against Golden West on Tuesday night.
Tyler Stark
Tyler Stark ('24) is in his freshmen year, and this is his first year writing for the Redwood Gigantea. Tyler hopes to work for Sports Illustrated in the future. you can contact him by email with: tyler.st3800@vusd.us
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