Taft High varsity boys attended the Route 58 Shootout hosted by Mira Monte High School and Foothill High School.

Overall, it was a rough weekend for the Wildcats. The first two games against Frontier and West (Both D-1 and D-2 schools in Bakersfield) showed promise. The boys played aggressively, created turnovers in their defense and shot the ball well in each of the first halves of each of the first two games. The second halves of those two games were a different story. The ‘Cats didn’t play with much energy or aggression. They began turning the ball over and just made poor decisions when the ball was in their hands. The boys tried to dribble too much to escape a defense. “Sometimes the players need to understand that passing out of bad situation is better than trying to dribble out of it, and when we tried to pass out of it, we passed it to a defender,” stated Coach Eric Newton. Although they lost both games, Newton felt that they proved that they could play with anyone they may face.

Everything imploded against Wasco on Saturday. Newton expressed, “I really believe our kids came out here and thought they were going to beat Wasco just from what they saw the night before. They thought they wouldn’t have to work hard for a victory. They got embarrassed today in every phase of the game. They outshot us, out-rebounded us, out-hustled us, but most of all they looked like a team that would do anything to get their first victory of the season. We were watching them play basketball today. When you are down by 38 at halftime, it’s tough not to be defeated…but we CANNOT let this weekend define us.” Newton believes that his team has the potential to be a great team but that they need the effort to match it; he knows they are better than the product they put on the floor. The Wildcats plan to show it next week when they go against Frazier Mountain at home.

Taft 56 Frontier 77

Fano Maui was our leading scorer with 14, Dylan Self 13, Blake Smith 9, Tyler Terrell 8, Zack Tuaila 6, and Braden Holland and Jackson Van Roekel each had 6.

Taft 56 West 80

Zack Tualia was our leading scorer with 18, Fano Maui and Dylan Self each had 10, Tyler Terrell had 7, Blake Smith 6, Braden Holland 2, and Craig Popejoy 3

Taft 32 Wasco 64

Dylan Self and Craig Popejoy each had 8, Zack Tuaila 6, Garrett Gibson and Blake Smith each had 3, Fano Maui and Tyler Terrell each had 2.