Sports
Sharks Get Win and Loss Prior to Fla. Trip
The team falls to Rio Mesa and beats Hueneme. Malibu High plays six games this week at a tournament in Orlando.
Despite a good first quarter, the boys basketball team was unable to keep up with Rio Mesa on Thursday, and fell 58-39. But the Sharks recovered the next day with a 47-36 win over Hueneme.
The Sharks faced the athletic Rio Mesa team on the road. The Spartans pulled away in the second quarter to take a 10-point halftime lead. Malibu fought back in the third period to reduce the gap, but Rio Mesa again pulled away late in the game to secure the win.
Senior center Justin Holmes led the Sharks in scoring with 12 points. Senior forward Harrison Kaplan had 10 points.
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Malibu was on the road again the next day for the match with Hueneme. The Sharks and Vikings exchanged leads several times during the first half. Hueneme head coach Brendan Garrett had watched Rio Mesa disrupt the Malibu offense, and employed similar strategies to stifle the Sharks' quick-cutting offense. However, this allowed senior guard Kyle Sandler to score 14 points (all in the first half) by slicing through seams in the Viking defense.
The second half became a defensive affair, with the Sharks deploying their match-up zone that shut down the Hueneme offense (limiting the Vikings to 11 points in the half). Meanwhile, Platner kept up the aggression at the offensive end, scoring 15 points (including 10 for 11 from the free throw line). Holmes scored 10 points and collected 11 rebounds.
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The Sharks are playing this week in Orlando, Fla. at the KSA Holiday Tournament. They will compete in six games in six days beginning Tuesday.
Malibu starts Frontier League play Jan. 6 with a road game against Santa Paula. This will be followed by another road league game Jan. 11 against Bishop Diego. The home opener is Jan. 13 at 7 p.m. against Villanova.
