Boys Basketball: Hornets Win The Battle of Alameda

Alameda 63, Encinal 60

The star: Alameda guard Sammy Allen scored 30 points, including 20 in the second half and 12 in the fourth quarter.

The turning point: Allen sparked an Alameda run midway through the fourth quarter to complete a 14-point comeback for the Hornets.

The quote: “I had to win this game. If I had lost, I just would have been in a hole.” — Sammy Allen, who transfered to Alameda from Encinal.

What’s next?: The Jets play Piedmont on Monday. The Hornets play at Richmond on Tuesday.

Bottom line: This was an impressive and much-needed comeback win for the Hornets, and a devastating loss for the Jets. 

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The island of Alameda belongs to the Hornets.

Sammy Allen made sure of that Saturday night.

Allen scored 30 points and willed to a 63-60 win over cross-island rival . The Hornets came back from a 14-point first-half deficit and pulled out the win late in the fourth quarter.

And Allen, who transferred from Encinal to Alameda, spent the entire night using the basketball court as his personal stage.

“I had to win this game,” he said. “If I had lost, I would have been in a hole.”

With the crowd jeering at him and chanting for him to choke, Allen was equal parts basketball player and showman. He fed off the energy on his way to the bucket time after time and was never shy about showing off after scores. There were multiple flexes after putback scores, a few waves of the arms to hype up the crowd, a salute to mark a blocked shot, and, in a critical moment late in the game, a shimmy dance at the free throw line.

“Sammy did what Sammy does,” Encinal coach Jonathan Canalin said. “He got putbacks. He got to the basket. He took a lot of shots, and he scored a lot of points.”

Allen scored 20 of his 30 points in the second half, with 12 of them coming in the fourth quarter. After settling for jump shots in the first half, he started attacking the rim as the game wore on.

“We got on to him at halftime and in time-outs,” Alameda coach Allen Nakamura said. “We told him he needed to go to the basket, and he did.”

Besides Allen’s virtuoso performance, the biggest different in the game came on the glass. Encinal coaches said Alameda snagged 25 offensive rebounds. 

“They just killed us on the offensive boards,” Canalin said. “When the other team has double your offensive rebounds, it’s tough to win.”

Encinal dominated the first quarter, taking a 17-3 lead by the end of the period. But the Hornets slowly chipped away at the Jets’ lead over the course of the game, eventually taking control in the fourth.

“They were nervous,” Nakamura said of his players. “They had that excited energy. But they settled down, and we changed things up.”

Keiland Callum led the Jets with 15 points, followed by Darryl Simbulan with 13. Alameda’s Joe Chin was the second Hornet in double figures, scoring 13.

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Alameda 63, Encinal 60