University boys basketball team finishes 14-15 overall, but with top players returning, coach believes future is bright

University Coach Mike Dinneen talks to his players during a tournament game.

University’s boys basketball team fell to Redlands East Valley 65-61 in the first round of the CIF 2A playoffs Friday night in Redlands.

After trailing by six points at halftime, the Trojans took a 49-48 lead going into the final stanza but were unable to hit enough big shots down the stretch.

Redlands East Valley (24-4) has won 20 of its last 21 games.

“It was a hard-fought contest with many lead changes in the second half but ultimately the Wildcats made more big plays at the end than we did,” said University Coach Mike Dinneen. “Our two big guys Brandon Liu and Sam Aryan, who were both instrumental in our regular season victory over Woodbridge, were both at about 70 percent effectiveness.”

“Andrea Roy scored 21 points and made four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to lead University. Kody Uyesugi had 15 points.

“Both teams were among the top five squads in CIF in three-point shooting and both teams did a good job in taking away the other team’s strength,” Dinneen said.

Uyesugi finished the season with 105 3-pointers while Roy made 101 for the Trojans, who finished 14-15 overall.

“This might be the first time two players from the same team have made 100 3’s in a season,” Dinneen said. “The future looks bright for the Trojans,” DInneen said.

The coach pointed out the Trojans will return two of their top three top scorers and assist men in Uyesugi and Will Stenta and their top two rebounders in Aryan and Stenta. Roy was the Trojans second leading scorer and Uyesugi and Stenta were Uni’s assist leaders.