Even though the Esperanza Aztecs scored an imposing 69 points on Friday, the South Spartans still came out on top. South snuck past Esperanza with a 74-69 win. Given South's advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 35th, while Esperanza is ranked 266th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Despite the loss, Esperanza saw an underclassman step up: Alex Van otterloo dropped a double-double on 23 points and 10 rebounds. Van otterloo scored a full 33.3% of Esperanza's points, the third time in a row he's earned more than a third of the team's points. Another player making a difference was Ashton Preciado, who scored 10 points along with 3 steals.
South's victory bumped their record up to 5-2. As for Esperanza, they now have a losing record at 3-4.
South is on the road again on Saturday and play against Santiago at 11:30 a.m. on December 2nd. Santiago has been dominant on offense recently, as they've racked up an incredible 250 points over their last four matches. Esperanza and Mira Costa will face off at 6:00 p.m. on December 4th without much rest after finishing up games yesterday. One thing working in Mira Costa's favor is that they have posted big point totals every time they've taken the court this season.
