Desert Palms Boys @ Santa Fe 1-7-09

The Desert Palms Boy’s Basketball team traveled to Santa Fe with a 2 and 1 regular season record without Josh Brooks who had to sit out due to an ankle injury. Wednesday night’s game was a re-match of two hard fought contests from last year in which Santa Fe won both, including the district playoffs.The boys struggled to score buckets in the first quarter until Isiah Lewis stepped up with several key shots. The score remained close when Sante Fe sank a long shot to take the lead 17-15 at the end of the first half.Desert Palms was led in scoring by Michael Reed with 19 points followed by Michael Gallardo with 14 and Isiah Lewis with 11. Jon Foltz controlled the backboards with a ferocious intensity, leading all rebounders, while scoring 4 points as well. Conner Higgins closed the lanes, holding Santa Fe’s best player scoreless in the second half.Santa Fe chipped away at the Desert Palm’s 12 point lead, sinking a handful of three point shots closing the game to within a single basket, but the team effort on defense by Reed, Gallardo, and Lewis stopped Santa Fe cold.Final score: Desert Palms 51 and Santa Fe 45.Next up: the boys play Wednesday, January 14 at Marshall Ranch. Tip-off is at 4:30 PM. Both teams enter the contest with a three win, one loss record setting up a huge battle for 1st place!