Wildcats Earn Much Needed Victory Against West Valley

Izaiah Cameron grabs a rebound and puts it right back in

With a rough start to their season so far, Paloma Valley High School faced the winless Mustangs of West Valley High School and won the game, 67-49.

Tonight, in their last game before Christmas, the Wildcats (3-8) needed a victory to boost team morale going into the holidays.

Entering the game, the West Valley (0-8) team appeared to come out flat. The Mustangs' players were quiet and played without a sense of urgency. Despite this, they were only down 13-9 after the end of the first quarter.

Even when Paloma Valley missed their shots, the Wildcats hustled to grab offensive rebounds and take second and sometimes even third shots. West Valley, running a 2-3 zone defense, often found their defenders wandering out of the zone, leading to Wildcats' players not being boxed out when their shots didn't fall.

Paloma Valley was able to widen their lead and went into halftime with a score of 31-23. The Wildcats were led by two-sport star, senior Izaiah Cameron, who led the team with 10 points at half.

Coming out of the locker-room, the Wildcats appeared to be in good spirits. Immediately within the first four minutes of the third quarter, Paloma Valley went on a 12-3 scoring run, to give them a 17-point lead.

The Mustangs chipped away several of the points, but their shoulders dropped again when senior point guard Manny Sandoval (pictured left), drove the ball to the basket and made a running layup as the buzzer sounded, ending the third quarter at 53-37.

Within the first minute of the fourth quarter, the Mustangs found themselves in the bonus, but still couldn't take advantage of the free throw shots and the stopped clock.

Instead Paloma Valley continued to play strong. Even when one of the Wildcats disagreed with a foul call by the referee, Sandoval stepped in and tried to give his teammate some words of encouragement.

West Valley was never able to recover or even cut down the lead.

Sandoval led the Wildcats in scoring with 22 points, followed by Cameron who scored 17 points. West Valley's six-foot-four sophomore, Vincent Fortney, led his team with 17 points.

Paloma Valley will next battle California Military Institute (1-1) on Dec. 26, in the first game of the Paloma Valley Winter Shootout Tournament.

#24 Josh Madrid takes the ball to the basket over West Valley's Vincent Fortney

#21 Blake Bouman shoots the ball from the baseline

#20 Izaiah Cameron blocks a Vincent Fortney shot

Josh Madrid prepares himself to take a free throw shot