The La Jolla Vikings's and the Crawford Colts's contest on Tuesday was close at halftime, but the La Jolla Vikings turned on the heat in the second half with 41 points. La Jolla put the hurt on Crawford with a sharp 66-44 win. Given La Jolla's advantage in MaxPreps' California basketball rankings (they are ranked 347th, while Crawford is ranked 906th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
La Jolla's win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Jackson Diehl, who almost dropped a double-double on 16 points and nine rebounds. It was the first time this season that Diehl scored 15 or more points. Another player making a difference was Michael Contreras, who scored 17 points along with eight rebounds and three steals.
Despite the loss, Crawford saw an underclassman step up: Dominick Espalin scored 20 points. Khalid Elmi was another key contributor, scoring six points along with two steals.
Crawford struggled to work together and finished the game with only two assists. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as La Jolla racked up 13 assists.
La Jolla pushed their record up to 16-9 with that victory, which was their third straight on the road. Those victories were due in large part to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 73.7 points per game. As for Crawford, they have traveled a rocky road recently having lost eight of their last ten contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 11-13 record this season.
La Jolla will be playing in front of their home fans against Madison at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. La Jolla is facing Madison at the right time seeing as Madison is stuck on a seven-game losing streak. As for Crawford, they will head out on the road to square off against Canyon Hills at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Hopefully Crawford focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up ten on Tuesday.
