The inaugural Battle of the Ball basketball games—with teams from cross-town rivals Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms High Schools—was marred by a brawl at the end of the third quarter that saw both varsity teams ejected, ending the game. The brawl was a huge disappointment to organizers after a packed house of fans filled the Bell Center at Copper Mountain College to capacity.
The boys’ varsity game ended with Twentynine Palms winning 62-29
Twentynine Palms won the girls’ varsity game, 53-45.
Yucca Valley won the boys’ JV game, 50-48.
No score was reported for girls’ junior varsity.
For Yucca Valley High School boys’ varsity, Coach Matt Jennings said top scorers were Jr. Rodriguez, with eight points and three rebounds; Bryce Mitchell, with six points and two rebounds; Noah Roy, five points and four rebounds; and Anthony Olvera, who scored five points.
Tops scorers for Yucca Valley boys’ junior varsity were Tayten Shartel, who scored 12 points and had three steals’ Blake Silva-Norcross with eight points; and Cesar Olvera, who had seven points and two assists.
Coach Jon Price said that the junior varsity Trojans put up a strong fight, with Blake Silva-Norcross adding a spark off the bench to help lead to a victory.
No stats were provided for Twentynine Palms varsity or JV boys’ players.
For Twentynine Palms girls’ basketball, Riley King had an outstanding game with 15 points and Carveona Garner was in double figures as well with 11 points.
