The inaugural East County Showcase tipped off last Friday at Helix Charter High School with 10 boys basketball teams displaying their wares across five games.
The event tipped off with a noon contest pitting Granite Hills against Santana and followed that up with matchups pitting Valhalla against Foothills Christian at 1:30 p.m., West Hills against Monte Vista at 3 p.m., Steele Canyon against El Capitan at 4:30 p.m. and wrapped up at 6 p.m. with a clash between El Cajon Valley and host Helix.
Winners included Granite Hills (66-53 over Santana), Valhalla (73-64 over Foothills Christian), Monte Vista (73-65 over West Hills), Steele Canyon (53-44 over El Capitan) and Helix (83-22 over El Cajon Valley).
Valhalla improved its season record to 10-4 while Monte Vista and Steele Canyon both improved to 10-6. Granite Hills moved closer to the 0.500 mark at 7-8.
El Cajon Valley saw its record dip to 8-5 while West Hills dropped to 9-6 on the season. Santana saw its record even at 7-7 while El Capitan moved to 5-10.
Helix (10-8) bounded out to a 19-0 lead and extended its dominance on the court with first half leads of 28-3 and 34-14.
Foothills freshman Joel Richards Jones poured in 33 points in the loss to the Norsemen (10-4). He is averaging 25.9 points per through 11 games for the Knights (1-12).
El Capitan freshman Kash Curo dropped in 18 points in the loss to Steele Canyon (10-6).
In statistics compiled through 18 games, sophomore Trey Cavazos paced Helix in scoring with a 14.5 points per game average, followed by junior Donovan Bryant at 12.0 ppg, senior Sergio Vazquez at 9.7, senior Jason Black at 11.5 ppg and junior Brian Hammerstrand at 8.2 ppg.
Black and Hammerstrand keyed the Highlanders with 5.3 rebounds per game while senior Ziggy Robinson led the team with 2.9 assists per game.
