After a couple of close losses at the Desert Heat Invitational at Cathedral City High School in California, the Douglas boys' basketball team found its stride on Wednesday, picking up a pair of impressive wins.
The Tigers, now 9-2 on the year, rebounded from a 59-56 loss to Thousand Oaks on Monday and a 67-66 overtime loss to Victor Valley on Tuesday to blast Perris High School 55-46 Wednesday.
Hunter Myers led Douglas with 15 points in the game, going 5-for-5 at the free-throw line, while Austin Neddenriep added 13. Trevor Shaffer had six points.
"They were an athletic team but we did a very good job defensively with them," Douglas coach Corey Thacker said. "They're best scorer, we held him to five points.
"We got after them right away, jumped out to a 9-0 lead and just kind of set the tone for the rest of the day."
Douglas wrapped up the day by defeating Clovis North, the team coached by former Douglas head coach Rob Streeter, 71-50.
Clovis had come into the game 13-3 on the year and had beaten Silverado out of Las Vegas earlier in the day.
"The kids just ran the floor very well and picked up a lot of transition buckets," Thacker said.
Myers again led the charge, scoring 21 points. Chris Downs had 11, draining three 3-pointers, Neddenreip had eight, Theo Denson had seven and Jorey Scott had seven.
Against Victor Valley on Tuesday, Douglas were down by five late tied the game up and had a chance to win in regulation.
"We had a chance, we got a shot off in overtime, but it wasn't the shot we were hoping for," Thacker said. "The kids just didn't give up.
"We're growing, we're getting better in these games. We're seeing great competition and the kids are responding to it."
