The Branch Academy Chargers earned a 47-36 victory over the Collegiate High Royals in an early college competitive basketball game hosted by Intramural sports on Wednesday, April 2 in the Heritage Campus gymnasium. David Zamarripa and Maximiliano Gonzalez led the way for the Chargers by scoring consistently and playing heavy minutes.
The game was four 10-minute quarters with official referees and rules. Both teams opened the first quarter with high energy and a fast pace of play. The scoring was back and forth throughout the end of the quarter where the Chargers led 12-10.
Early in the second quarter the Chargers found their stride with a 10-0 run to extend their lead to 12 points before the Royals leading scorer Josiah Voinov went on a run of his own to keep the game competitive. Voinov made three consecutive baskets along with a free throw added on to the last shot, but the Chargers would rally a couple late baskets to hold a 24-17 lead at halftime.
During the game Julia Valenti-Tontini, dean of student services at Collegiate High School and coach of the Royals gave more insight into how these games are put together and why they’ve continued the tradition for several years now. Collegiate High School is located on the Heritage Campus at Del Mar and students’ top priority is school, as they are trying to get both a high school diploma and an associate degree. However Collegiate students can participate in Del Mar’s intramural sports, and since Branch Academy’s academic priorities are the same as Collegiate’s, administrators wanted to give the students an opportunity to compete and play sports like any other high school students could.
“It ranges from basketball, volleyball, and flag football also,” Velenti-Tontini explained. “We try to do it every semester, Mrs. Carla [Gamez-Vela, Del Mar’s intramural sports director] is awesome about helping us put it together.” She also said that they like to get trophies for the winners to give the students more incentive to be competitive and enjoy the experience. Intramural sports helped add to the experience this time, handing out championship rings to the winning team as well as medals for the other team.
After a few pictures with Valdar, students switched baskets and flew through the second half. Defense became aggressive and effective on both sides as players blocked shots and swiped away passes which led both benches to get loud, hyping up their teammates and heckling opponents when they got close.
With the heavy defense came more fouls than early on, leading to multiple Chargers free throws that allowed them to maintain the lead throughout the second half. The Royals made a push early in the fourth quarter to knock their deficit to single digits, however they struggled to score at all in the last few minutes of the game as the Chargers exploded with joy at the sound of the final buzzer in their 47-36 victory.
After the game Voinov, who placed second in the one-on-one intramural basketball tournament last month, said that he enjoyed playing in this game more because, “it was a real 5-on-5 game experience, so it’s more fun.”
