The Turlock Golden Eagles summer basketball program came home with a 2-3 record from the Otter Shootout tournament Friday and Saturday at California State University, Monterey Bay.
The Golden Eagles squad, which is primarily made up of Turlock Christian varsity players, is coached by Eddie Sai who is the head coach for TC basketball.
In a very competitive tourney that included 14 teams total, 12 of which were from Monterey County, the Golden Eagles and Redding Christian were the out-of-towner’s. The Golden Eagles, who are a D-VI team, battled with D-I squads.
“It’s been good… that is what we do during summer to see who wants to work and get better, even playing the coastal teams, wherever we go, we look at the things other teams do differently and learn to battle and play at different levels. We will see how we do this year competing,” said Sai.
Things didn’t get easier for the Golden Eagles who were led at the point guard position by two incoming freshman in Josh Hollis and Max Tyson.
Not even an hour after arriving to Fort Ord, the Golden Eagles competed against Salinas High and went down to the Cowboys, 61-35.
In the second contest against a travel ball team from the Central Coast, the Golden Eagles held a 22-21 lead in the first half, but a second half falter led to the 55-37 final, as they were outscored 34-15.
Saturday was a bit more of a successful day as the Golden Eagles picked up two wins in three games starting with a 64-51 win over Redding Christian.
The 6-foot-8 Brady Turner finished all three games with a double-double, averaging 16 points and 11 rebounds per game.
In the second contest the Golden Eagles were tied 33 apiece against Monterey, but in the second half the shooting cooled off and they fell 61-47.
In the final game against Pacific Grove the Golden Eagles really brought the pressure as they squeezed away a 52-45 win behind three double digit scorers which included Turner, Jordan Riise (17) and Drake Dutra (10).
“It’s tough, the referring is local and we got the respect playing out there hard but we didn’t get many calls as opposed to local teams,” Sai said.
Hollis finished well and did a ‘great job leading,’ Sai stated about the freshman who averaged over seven assists per game.
The Golden Eagles will be playing at CSU Stanislaus’ Ed and Bertha Fitzpatrick Arena on June 27 and 28 with the schedule yet to be determined.
