Central Valley High School's varsity boys basketball team dropped a pair of non-league games last week.
"We're young," head coach Darryl Dickson said. "We'll get better. We have a chance to be pretty good this year."
The Hawks lost 67-66 to Excel Academy on Tuesday, Dec. 4 in Ceres.
"That's a team we should have beat," Dickson said. "We never kicked it into the next gear. We shot horribly. We didn't handle the ball well. We struggled on defense. When we do those things right, we're pretty good."
Sophomore Parker Griffin scored a season-high 18 points for Central Valley.
Sophomore Jaron Dickson and junior Diego Sanchez totaled 15 and 10 points, respectively.
Junior Jordan Sek and senior Jordan Thornton had six points apiece.
Sophomore Manuel Garcia and junior Ja'Quan Gardner chipped in with four and three points, respectively.
Jaron's 3-pointer cut the deficit to one late in the fourth quarter. Excel ran the final six seconds off the clock to secure the victory.
"We made a lot of mistakes and still had a chance to win it at the end," coach Dickson said.
Central Valley fell behind 30-10 in the first quarter and never recovered in losing 73-59 at Brookside Christian on Wednesday.
"It was a good experience for us even though we lost," coach Dickson said.
Junior Juan Manriquez collected a team-high 15 points.
Thornton scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds
Garcia had 11 points.
The Knights' lead ballooned to 28 points in the second half.
The Hawks cut the deficit to seven with three minutes left in regulation.
"We just played with more confidence," Dickson said.
Central Valley (1-2) will participate in the Denair tournament, Dec. 13-15.
"We're young," head coach Darryl Dickson said. "We'll get better. We have a chance to be pretty good this year."
The Hawks lost 67-66 to Excel Academy on Tuesday, Dec. 4 in Ceres.
"That's a team we should have beat," Dickson said. "We never kicked it into the next gear. We shot horribly. We didn't handle the ball well. We struggled on defense. When we do those things right, we're pretty good."
Sophomore Parker Griffin scored a season-high 18 points for Central Valley.
Sophomore Jaron Dickson and junior Diego Sanchez totaled 15 and 10 points, respectively.
Junior Jordan Sek and senior Jordan Thornton had six points apiece.
Sophomore Manuel Garcia and junior Ja'Quan Gardner chipped in with four and three points, respectively.
Jaron's 3-pointer cut the deficit to one late in the fourth quarter. Excel ran the final six seconds off the clock to secure the victory.
"We made a lot of mistakes and still had a chance to win it at the end," coach Dickson said.
Central Valley fell behind 30-10 in the first quarter and never recovered in losing 73-59 at Brookside Christian on Wednesday.
"It was a good experience for us even though we lost," coach Dickson said.
Junior Juan Manriquez collected a team-high 15 points.
Thornton scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds
Garcia had 11 points.
The Knights' lead ballooned to 28 points in the second half.
The Hawks cut the deficit to seven with three minutes left in regulation.
"We just played with more confidence," Dickson said.
Central Valley (1-2) will participate in the Denair tournament, Dec. 13-15.
