Basketball Recap: Cravon Charles Key Part of a Team Effort in Gladiators Win

You can't lose the game if you win every quarter, and that was precisely Marquez's strategy against Buena Park on Wednesday. The Marquez Gladiators strolled past the Buena Park Coyotes with points to spare, taking the game 69-50. That's more bragging rights for the Gladiators, who also won the pair's last head-to-head.

Marquez's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Cravon Charles, who went 9 for 15 en route to 20 points and eight rebounds. Charles has been hot, having posted eight or more boards the last five times he's played. Elyjah Staples was another key player, dropping a double-double on 11 points and 12 rebounds.

Gladiators

Assists

01/15/25 vs Buena Park	19
01/06/25 vs Maywood Academy	17
01/02/25 vs Roosevelt	17
01/04/25 vs Jordan	13
01/03/25 vs Polytechnic	5

Marquez was working as a unit and finished the game with 19 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Buena Park's loss shouldn't obscure the performances of Ernesto Portas, who almost dropped a double-double on 18 points and nine boards, and Zyaire Eastland, who posted 17 points in addition to five assists and five rebounds. The dominant performance gave Eastland a new career-high in assists. Another player making a difference was Liam Gallego, who earned four points along with five assists and five boards.

Marquez is on a roll lately: they've won four of their last five matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 6-8-1 record this season. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 60.4 points per game. As for Buena Park, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost five of their last six contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-17 record this season.

Marquez didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, an 82-26 win against Torres on the 16th. Buena Park has also already played their next match (against Santa Ana), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing.