Bonita Escapes with 55-48 win, Avenges earlier loss to Brahmas

DIAMOND BAR – The Bonita boys basketball team avenged its first loss of league play which subsequently led to the abrupt resignation of its head coach as it edged diamond bar 55-48 Wednesday night in a hacienda league game.  Diamond Bar won the first meeting 43-40 in a game where there was an incident which subsequently led to Greg Eckler’s resignation the next day.

“It was a tough couple of weeks for the boys,” interim coach Mark Shores said. “It is a big win tonight over a team that beaten us earlier.”

The win came at the heel of two out of three wins after losing the first three league games.

After playing to a 11-10 stalemate in the first quarter, Bonita broke the game open in the second quarter, going on an 10-3 run to take a 21-13 lead.

Diamond Bar’s Angel Sanders made one of two free throws to close the gap to five points, but Bonita would score the last five points to take a 26-18 lead into halftime.

Dane Hollar led the way for Bonita dropping 16 points, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out two assists.  Kenny Walker chipped in 15, while David Neff added seven points and three assists.

Hollar made six of Bonita’s nine third quarter points as neither team could seem to find the basket.  Diamond Bar however made eight free throws to keep the game within 10 as the Bearcats took a 35-25 lead going into the final quarter.

Christian Manalo led the way for the Brahmas, going for 15 points.  Tyler Petersen dropped nine and three steals, while Bobby Meshesha and Leo Li pitched in eight for the Brahmas who dropped to 4-3 in league play.

Diamond Bar will not go away as it makes one final push in the fourth quarter to close the gap.  Three free throws by Leo Li closed the gap to 52-48, with under a minute to go, but Bonita will respond with three free throws of its own down the stretch to seal the victory.

“Much respect for this team (Diamond Bar),” Shores said.  “They play scrappy defense which I like from these kids.”

The Bearcats (15-6, 3-4) looks to avenge its loss to Rowland as it hosts the Raiders Friday evening.  Tipoff is at 6:30pm.

BOX SCORE

BONITA (55) – Dane Hollar (16), Kenny Walker (15), David Neff (7), Joseph Quintana (5), Tim Trisnaldi (4),  Andrew Pink (4),  Kurt Reibold (2), Anthony Cascarrano (2)

DIAMOND BAR (48) – Christian Manalo (15),  Tyler Petersen (9),  Bobby Mashesha (8), Leo Li (8),  Kenneth Thai (3), Angel Sanders (3),  Sachin Malik (2)