Quietly, not to mention barely, one of the longest streaks in Douglas High School history came to an end Monday night.
With the Douglas boys' basketball team's 59-56 loss to Thousand Oaks, Calif., in the first round of the Desert Heat Invitational, Douglas junior Trevor Shaffer experienced the first loss of his high school basketball career.
The Tiger junior varsity squad, for which Shaffer was a key player, went 25-0 last season, becoming the first undefeated team at the JV level the school has ever had.
Shaffer was the lone carry-over from a freshman team that went 27-0 the prior year that also made this year's varsity squad.
Douglas' varsity, of course, opened this year 7-0 before Monday's loss.
So Shaffer, who is averaging 5.6 points per game in reserve duty for the Tigers this year, opened his high school career by playing a part in 59 consecutive wins.
Judging by the fact that no other JV teams have gone unbeaten and no other freshman teams are known to have been unbeaten, it's fairly safe to say Shaffer's streak is the longest the school has ever seen. At least in basketball.
Now, basketball is of course a team sport, and no one individual can make a team.
Still, 59 wins in a row for anyone at any level - particularly in a sport like basketball - is pretty special and not something we're likely to see again any time soon.
This is what I get for writing something before double-checking my facts. Shaffer's streak is very cool. But it may have already been topped.
Because of the basketball program's exceptional depth, there are still a couple of juniors who played on that undefeated freshman squad two years ago, who are currently on the junior varsity roster. Douglas' JV team was also 7-0 to open the year heading into this week's State Farm Holiday Classic.
So Steven Werth and Ben Khongkhatitham also carried 59-game win streaks into this week's JV tournament. It'll be a nice side-note to keep an eye on over the next two years or so to see how far that streak stretches.
With the way the Douglas boys started their season, there was some reason to think that it might be possible for the Tigers to run the table.
But, there were some glaring question marks on the front end of the schedule that coach Corey Thacker directly addressed in the way he constructed the holiday portion of the schedule.
For one, Douglas was only going to play one game on the road prior to the holiday break.
Two, there was no one on the front end of the schedule that ran any system close to what Douglas runs, or even that could counter what Douglas runs.
So he created a real test stretch for his squad before they set into the thick of league play next week by taking them out to the Desert Heat Classic at Cathedral City High School in California.
The Tigers have taken some lumps in the first two games, suffering a pair of close defeats (59-56 to Thousand Oaks on Monday and 67-66 to Victor Valley in overtime on Tuesday).
But this was the point. Thacker said flat out after Monday's loss that he wanted to expose his squad to difficult situations, road atmospheres and heightened stress and fatigue levels with five games in four days.
These are some high quality opponents Douglas is seeing this week. They run similar systems and play pressure defense. And it's good the Tigers are getting to see them before next week.
Look at how Douglas will have to open its 2011: At home against preseason No. 1 McQueen, which is getting close to being back at full-strength, on Tuesday; At Manogue, my current No. 1, on Friday and at rival Carson on Saturday.
With the McQueen game counting toward league standings this year, it's as tough a stretch in a league setting that I've ever seen for a basketball team here. Granted, you'd rather see a stretch like that now, rather than in the final week of the regular season, but it doesn't lessen the blow much.
Sure, the two losses hurt. But Douglas is playing good basketball against good opponents. That could reap huge dividends in the coming weeks.
- Former Douglas coach Rob Streeter has his Clovis North Broncos at the Desert Heat Invitational this week. The Broncos are 10-3 to open the year.
Couple statistical notes prior to Monday's loss:
- Through seven games, no team had finished within 17 points of the Douglas boys' basketball team.
- The latest the Tigers had trailed in a game this season is 7:45 into the first quarter at North Valleys.
- Douglas had not been held to less than 62 points in a game.
- Is it just me, or is it taking forever to get to the good bowl games this year?
