East County was well represented with four teams at this year’s Frank Pekarek National City Host Lions Club boys basketball tournament Dec. 13-20 at Sweetwater High School: Mount Miguel, Granite Hills, Foothills Christian and Monte Vista.
Mount Miguel and Monte Vista both appear to be reloading this season for what could be something special.
Mount Miguel is attempting to better last season’s 13-14 finish with an appearance in the second round of the Division III playoffs. The Matadors finished 24-9, 8-2 in the Grossmont Hills League and a trip to the second round of the state playoffs after winning the Division V section title.
Monte Vista finished 23-10 in 2023-24, 9-1 in the Grossmont Hills League, with a trip to the state playoffs after placing runner-up in the Division IV section championship game.
The Spring Valley teams exceled on the court at the Sweetwater tournament. Mount Miguel won its opening four games to improve to 8-4 on the young season while Monte Vista won its opening four games to hike its record to 7-5.
“Our expectations are to play to our full potential,” said new Matadors head coach Christine Fitzgerald, who becomes the first female head coach for a boys team in Grossmont Conference history. “The expectations are within reach if we can play to our full potential.”
Mount Miguel finished in third place in last year’s Grossmont Hills League standings with a 4-4 record while battling Steele Canyon (8-0 in league), Helix (5-4 in league), Monte Vista (3-5 in league) and El Capitan (0-8 in league).
Grossmont Valley League champion Granite Hills (10-0 in league in 2024-25) moves into the Grossmont Hills League this season while El Capitan moves to the Grossmont Valley League.
Teams have wasted little time making their early season statements with Valhalla boasting a 7-2 non-league record, followed by El Cajon Valley (7-3), West Hills (9-4), Santana (7-6), El Capitan (4-4) and Grossmont (2-5) among Grossmont Valley League squads.
Both East County playing circuits expect to be competitive again this season.
Helix (7-3), Mt. Miguel (8-4), Monte Vista (6-5) and Steele Canyon (7-6) all boasted winning records in non-league play in the revamped Grossmont Hills League with Granite Hills keeping chase at 3-6.
It’s going to be tough,” veteran Granite Hills coach Dan Duffy said of the team’s upcoming league schedule. “They’re all good in the Hills League.”
Matador pride
Players expected to carry the load on this year’s Mount Miguel squad include junior Jerome Radcliff, sophomore Brooklyn James, freshman Tmarrion Williams and junior Jayden Crayton-Sherman.
Entering the Sweetwater tournament, Radcliff led the Matadors iin scoring with 11.8 points per game, followed by James (10.5 ppg), Williams (7.5 ppg) and Crayton-Sherman (6.7 ppg). Junior Rasan Mohammed was the rebounding leader (5.8 rpg), followed by Williams (5.3 rpg). Sophomore Micah Willis was averaging 2.5 steals per game.
“We have some athleticism on the team that we didn’t have last season,” Fitzgerald said. “We want to exploit this.”
Mount Miguel tipped off tourney play with a rather convincing 92-38 win over Foothills Christian, then topped Lincoln, 66-47, before downing Sweetwater, 69-40, and Southwest El Centro, 79-40.
Monte Vista walloped Vista, 82-37 to tip off the National City tournament, then raced past Mar Vista, 92-29, before sinking Foothills Christian, 94-47, and Otay Ranch, 70-65.
Eagles nest
Granite Hills opened tourney play 2-2 with wins over San Ysidro (53-36) and Foothills Christian (93-75) and losses to Sweetwater (58-46) and Southwest San Diego (67-50).
Coming off a GVL championship, the Eagles advanced to last season’s Division IV section semifinals. There have been some early season obstacles to overcome.
“We lost a lot of guys and haven’t had our football guys in the lineup because the football season went so long,” Duffy said. “These tournament games now are more like practice games for us getting everyone together on the same page.”
The football season did indeed go long for the Eagles. Granite Hills qualified for the state playoffs as the Division I section champion and met Oxnard Pacifica in the Southern California regional championship game on Dec. 6. The Eagles’ season finally ended there with a dramatic 42-35 loss to the visiting Tritons (15-1) on a fumble return for a touchdown with 43.2 seconds to play in regulation.
The Eagles basketball team recorded its first win of the season, 57-49, over Valley Center on Dec. 8 and topped San Ysidro, 53-36, as part of the Sweetwater tournament on Dec. 13.
Junior quarterback Zac Benitez is the most recognizable of the football players joining the hardcourt squad along with junior receiver Zedahn Smith. Sophomore Kris Mays is also being counted on this season as one of the hoops team’s key players.
Smith averaged 8.1 points per game last season while Mays averaged 4.8 ppg as a freshman. Benitez averaged 4.7 rebounds per game in 2025-25.
But gone from the lineup of last season’s 18-11 team are graduated seniors Andre Dankha (21.4 ppg, 4.0 assists per game) and Lathan Fry (11.0 ppg, 15.8 rebounds per game).
“We have playing talent, we have a lot of guys to replace,” said Duffy, who is in his 24th season coaching at Granite Hills.
Hooping it up
Steele Canyon finished 19-10 last season as a Division II quarterfinalist. The Cougars defeated West Hills, 70-68, in non-league play on Nov. 19 and topped Patrick Henry (52-46), Escondido Charter (67-50) and Eastlake (68-55) in ensuing tournament play.
Other non-league wins have come against Canyon Hills (65-49), Bishop’s (66-59) and Mt. Carmel (54-50) — all very competitive.
Valhalla is having a very successful start to the 2025-26 season after an 18-11 finish in 2024-25 season to go with an 8-2 Grossmont Valley League record. The Norsemen received the No. 9 seed in the Division III section playoffs but lost their opening game, 82-67, to eighth-seeded Fallbrook.
Top scorers in the first month of play include senior Cole Davis (17.7 ppg), sophomore Andrew Mikhail (14.9 ppg) and senior George Hinnawi (13.0 ppg). Rebounding leaders include Hinnawi (6.4 rpg), Davis (6.3 rpg) and juniors Jawan Monqad (4.9 rpg) and Stavro Basaka (4.0 rpg). Hinnawi is the assist leader (4.0 per game) while Mikhail, Basaka and Hinnawi are the steals leaders (all 2.1 per game).
Foothills Christian (1-9) is lead on the scoreboard by freshman Joel Richards-Jones at 26.3 ppg.
Among the region’s smaller schools, Mountain Empire is off to a 5-3 statt, Alpine’s Liberty Charter is 4-4 and Christian is 4-7.
