Jaguars earn first-ever Valley League boys basketball title

Robby Tortes puts up a tough shot against Orange Glen.

With a few high-fives and an absolute lack of fanfare, the Valley Center varsity boys basketball team “celebrated” the first Valley League championship in school history with a 52–34 win at Orange Glen on Friday night.
The Jaguars were clearly happy to get the win, but center Stehly Reden summed up the conflicting emotions behind the stoic victory.
“It feels good to be the league champions, but we’ve got a new goal now,” he said.
That goal is to carry the momentum from an outstanding regular season—the Jags finished 17–8 overall and 7–1 in league, including wins in their last eight games—over into the CIF playoffs, which begin this week.
“This is a great bunch of guys,” head coach Bob Purdy said after the game. “They all practice hard and they all play hard, every week. This was the first time we had enough guys to play summer ball, and that carried over into the season. They like each other, and they play hard for each other. Now we just need to keep playing hard and hope for a good seed.”
Despite the league title and outstanding record, the Jaguars enter the CIF playoffs as the No. 9 seed of 16 teams and will play at No. 8 Santana at 7 p.m. on Wednesday in the first round of the post-season.
To win their first league championship, the Jaguars spoiled Orange Glen’s senior night celebration with solid offense and stifling defense in the 52–34 win.
Valley Center built a good lead with a seven-point run late in the first quarter, but Orange Glen pulled back to within four at the end of the period.
But the Jags started the second quarter with a ten-point run, including six straight points from Reden, and held the Patriots to only three points in the quarter to take a 13-point lead at halftime.
The Jaguars spread the ball around on offense in the third quarter, as six different players scored at least a point in the period, to extend the lead to 15 heading into the fourth quarter.
In the final period, the Jags played patient basketball, milking the clock on offense and limiting the Patriots on defense to seal the big win.
“We knew we were going to have to hustle to beat these guys,” Purdy said. “They’re a small team, so we used our big guys to our advantage. And [James] Siva really hustled out there; he’s the smallest guy on the team but he came up big for us tonight.”
Reden led all scorers with 17 points, while Siva added ten, AJ Broomell and Mike McInerny each had eight, Robby Tortes had six, Brett Henderson had two and Beau Reilly had one.
Valley Center’s opening game in the CIF playoffs is at Santana on Wednesday at 7 p.m. If the Jaguars win, they play again on Saturday night against the winner between El Capitan and No. 1 St. Augustine.

(photos by Gabriel Santana)

AJ Broomell brings the ball up the court:
Mike McInerny gets an open look at this shot:
Broomell looks for a passing lane under the basket:
Stehly Reden (4) grabs a rebound:
James Siva tries to get a pass around his defender:
Reden goes up for another rebound:
Tortes lines up a free throw:
Siva matches up on defense:
Reden gets set for a foul shot:
Broomell keeps a close eye on his man on defense:
McInerny gets a hand on this layup attempt:
McInerny grabs the loose ball...
...and dishes it off on the fast break:
Reden gets his follow-through set for a free throw:
McInerny goes in for the open layup:
Tortes keeps his hands up on defense:
Siva breaks down the court:

Siva and Beau Reilly go after a loose ball:

Broomell leads the fast break:
Reilly squares up for a free throw:
Siva turns to bring the ball into the offensive zone:
Siva gets an open jump shot:
Brett Henderson brings the ball up the court:
Dan Henderson makes a move to get past his defender: