Sultans Can’t Keep Up With Jags

By Adam Paul
Updated: December 4, 2023

2023-24 EAST COUNTY BOYS BASKETBALL

By Adam Paul

SANTEE – Whoever said revenge wasn’t sweet must not have ever played sports before. On Monday (Dec.4) night in Horseman Tournament action, the Valley Center Jaguars gained some as they soundly defeated the Santana Sultans 73-48.

The last time the two teams met was last season in the semi-finals of the CIF Division V playoffs and the Sultans prevailed on a last-second basket 55-53 to advance to the championship.

This time around Valley Center who was coming off a 76-50 loss to La Jolla took full advantage of their strengths as they only trailed once as Santana scored the first basket to lead 2-0.

On the night the Jaguars canned twelve three-pointers and outmuscled the Sultans on the boards to create things offensively.

Leading the way for the Jags was junior Lincoln Zetmeir who topped all scorers with 31 points which included eight from behind the arc.

Another notable note was senior Carson Yoder who with his 22 points broke the 1,000 career point mark.

Pleased with how his team played on the evening was Santana alum and current Jaguar head coach Jeff Bickford who while at Santana played on the basketball team and coached both boys and girls.

Said Bickford “It is always fun to play my alma mater and I am proud of my guys for the way they played the entire game.”

“By beating them (Santana) tonight and also beating the defending Division V champions Classical Academy a few nights ago we are showing we will be a team to be reckoned with come playoff time.”

Santana unfortunately couldn’t pull any closer than the fifteen points they trailed at halftime en route to being outscored 33-23 in the second half.

The Sultans fall to 3-4 and will next travel to Southwest El Centro on Tuesday (Dec.5)