Kody Uyesugi (left) and Will Stenta of University were named all-tourney.
University’s boys basketball team started strong and didn’t let up, notching an 82-57 victory over Woodbridge in a consolation round game of the So Cal Elite Gary Raya Classic at Woodbridge Saturday afternoon.
The Trojans (9-5 overall) finished the tournament with three wins in a row. Kody Uyesugi, who scored 20 points and Will Stenta, who scored 15 points, led the Trojans and were named to the all-tournament team. Andrea Roy also had a solid game with 18 points for the Trojans.
“We started off well and had a good lead after the first quarter,” said University Coach Mike Dinnen. “We didn’t play that well in the second quarter and the last two minutes of the first quarter. Then we kind of broke the game open and got it (the lead) up by 15.
“Then we had a pretty good third quarter and finished the game a little better than we did yesterday.”
Uyesugi and Stenta helped the Trojans finish the tournament on a successful note.
“Both those kids are very important for us,” Dinneen said.
“Kody handles the ball and is a really good shooter and Will just does all the little things for us and guards the best guy on the other team. He’s pretty good on the fast break and he can bring the ball up also.”
“I think we have the makings of a pretty good team,” Dinneen said. “We’ve won three games in all three tournaments we’ve played, so that’s good.”
Woodbridge (3-8) couldn’t get much going and wound up the week win-less in four tournament games.
Luciano Bettis scored 16 points and Chris Cooper scored 8 points to lead the Warriors.
“Uni is better than us,” said Woodbridge Coach John Halagan. “Mike likes his team and I see why. They’re a good basketball club. We didn’t do a lot to help ourselves. We really didn’t follow much of our game plan early on.
“And then we were playing uphill. And as the game wore on we encountered a little adversity and we just didn’t handle adversity very well individually and collectively. When you do that, you’re giving yourself a chance to compete at the level you need to compete at.”
“Give Uni credit; they listened to their coach and our guys didn’t do such a great job of listening to me today. We’ve got to go back to the drawing board and figure a few things out.”
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
More Stories
Talented young Woodbridge athletes lead boys and girls cross country teams
Portola, led by sophomore tennis star Kenzie Nguyen, looks for another big season
PHOTOS: Irvine athletes announce future college plans during campus ceremony