Weston Ranch made five-man substitutions all night to keep fresh legs and apply the pressure relentlessly to host Sierra, forcing 30 turnovers on the way to an 84-51 Valley Oak League boys basketball road win.
With his team stifling the Timberwolves attack, Weston Ranch’s Khristian Holmes led all scorers and nearly posted a double-double with 27 points behind five 3-pointers along with eight rebounds.
“We had a good team win,” Holmes said. “We all played unselfishly. I like playing with this team — we are like brothers.”
Richard Banks added 13 points and six rebounds for the Cougars (3-0 VOL, 11-8 overall) and he made four of his team’s 23 steals.
“It’s a team effort,” Banks said. “If I do good on defense it helps my teammates do better. If someone is having a bad game we step it up for him.
“This felt great.”
Elliot Mobley (three steals) added 11 points for Weston Ranch with Elijah Mobley (three steals) and Jordan Henard (six rebounds, two steals) chipping in nine points each.
The Cougars won the battle of the boards 36-32 with Weston Ranch grabbing 14 off the offensive glass.
“Offensive rebounds were a big point of emphasis for us,” Cougars coach Nicholas Podesta said. “In our last game against Antelope we didn’t box out, rebound down or make sure we finished possessions so a huge point of emphasis tonight was to get double-digit offensive rebounds.
“Our defense is a testament to the 10 guys that played tonight. They all bought into the role. Our identity is going to be based around positive energy and making sure we are playing defense, whether it is in the full or the half court. I thought we had a really, really strong defensive game tonight.”
Weston Ranch was relentless, using its speed to post runs of 17-3, 11-0, 12-3 and 10-0.
“They are athletic and they are quick,” Timberwolves coach Eddie Morales said. “And they are 10 deep. We’re not going to give up 80 and win against anybody. I thought we were going to grind a little tougher and make it a little tougher in transition, but they just made too many layups. You have to give them credit.
“We have now played two bad games back-to-back, so we have to get back to the drawing board. I think we will be all right.”
After getting in foul trouble in the first half, Sierra’s Arvin Chohan scored all of his 14 points in the second half. Arman Sekhon added eight points, three rebounds and two assists and Mitchell Van Zwaluwenburg grabbed nine rebounds.
On Friday at 7:30 p.m. the Cougars host Kimball and Monday night at 7:30 the Timberwolves (1-5, 7-11) travel to Tracy to face Kimball.
Junior varsity
Sierra 55, Weston Ranch 44
The Timberwolves’ Richard Nguyen led all scorers with 17 points. Emil Esperanza added 16 points and Josh Seals nine.
Joziah Bell led the Cougars with 14 points and R.J. Fairley chipped in 11 points.
Freshman
Sierra 48, Weston Ranch 15
Trevor Sutton led a balanced Timberwolves attack with 13 points.
Emiliano Luna paced the Cougars with seven points.
