No Rest for Basketball Program Over Winter Break

Ryan Lam, Asst. Sports Editor|December 31, 2018

Over the winter break, the Diamond Bar High School boys basketball team experienced satisfying wins and disappointing losses. The Brahmas defeated Chino 86-45 and Ontario 87-43 in its first two league games with dominant performances from seniors Myles Corey, Amir Hunter and Mike Gao.

The boys then went on to play in the Damien Classic, their third tournament of the season, where they defeated Maranatha 60-48 in their first game. However, Hawaiian team Iolani ended the Brahmas’ run in the tournament and their seven-game win streak with a buzzer-beater,  58-56. The Brahmas also lost their last game in the Classic against Los Altos, 89-72.

In the Ontario game, Corey scored 24 points with a season-high of 9 steals while Hunter and Gao scored 18 and 21 points, respectively. Corey topped his previous game during the first round of the Classic and scored 28 points making 12 of his 17 shot attempts from the field. Senior forward Bryan Reyes also had a good performance, coming off the bench and contributing 10 points for his team. Center Gao rolled his ankle in the last quarter of the game, which proved to be costly for the Brahmas in its loss to Iolani.

Although their center was absent for the quarterfinals game, DB lead in points for the entire game until the middle of the fourth quarter, when Iolani scored multiple three-pointers to get back into the game and win. In the two-point loss, Corey scored 19 points while Reyes grabbed 12 boards.

Corey had his best night in the last game of the tournament, scoring a career-high of 35 points with senior guard Justin Herrera and Hunter contributing double-digit points.

Despite half of their total losses coming from the Damien Classic, the team learned a lot and hopes to use this as motivation for the rest of the season.

“We have to learn to adapt and be able to win games without our big. When CIF comes around we need to be able to start and finish games the same way, with or without Mike,” Hunter said. “It’s the only way we can bring a ring back to DB.”

In the girl’s basketball program, the Lady Brahmas were dealing with numerous players out due to injuries and vacations over the break, which proved to be costly. The team defeated Chino 59-31 in their league season opener, despite junior point guard Juliana Callasan dislocating her finger during the game, and in their second league game, the team experienced a tough loss against Ontario, 50-46. Callasan is predicted to be out for the entire season, leaving one less option for the team offensively.

The girls also played in the Buena Park Tournament, which was their last tourney of the season. Senior starter Angela Hung was absent for the entire tournament while captain Kayla Hunt sprained her ankle in the first round against Division II high school Woodbridge, resulting in a Lady Brahmas loss, 45-36.

Although Hunt wasn’t able to play for the rest of the tourney, the team took a win from Western, where junior shooting guard Karen Shao scored two three-pointers in overtime to seal the win, 52-49. Shao also filled in the shoes of the teams’ absent scorers, scoring double-digit points in every game of the tourney. However, the setbacks were too much for the team and the girls lost their last two games in the tournament, 48-35 to Sage Hill and 43-40  against Buena Park.