HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL : Helix Beats El Capitan in League Opener, 56-41

Helix Coach John Singer has been waiting to see his basketball team play the kind of defense that made the Highlanders top in the county last year.

And what better time for the Highlanders (11-4, 1-0) to do it than in the Grossmont 3-A League opener Friday, when they defeated El Capitan, 56-41, at Helix.

And what better person to control the defense than Jason Falconer, Helix’s 6-11 center, whose playing ability has drawn some skepticism.

“He dominated on the game on defense,” Singer said. “And some people say he can’t play basketball. This is the best game he has played so far.

“The kid doesn’t know just how good he can be. He changes a lot of shots.”

Falconer scored 19 points, and Lloyd Lake led Helix with 21.

After a slow start, the Highlanders dominated the second quarter and outscored El Capitan, 25-7. The Vaqueros shot two for 13 from the field and didn’t make a field goal until just 3:20 left in the second quarter. Helix led, 36-14, at halftime.

“We were cold the first quarter,” Falconer said. “Then we warmed up. Coach talked to us all week how good El Capitan was and we psyched ourselves up all week. They went into shock.”

Helix held Tyrone Wiggins, who has been averaging 14.5 points a game, to two points, which came at the buzzer.

“They (El Capitan) couldn’t do anything they wanted to do on offense,” Singer said. “Best effort I’ve seen in a half. All the kids played super defense. It’s tough to teach kids to play that hard.”

El Capitan (6-8, 0-1) held Helix to eight points in the third quarter but couldn’t keep up the momentum and with five minutes to play, Lake scored to open up a 20-point lead (51-31) for the Highlanders.

El Capitan was led by Chris Peace with 15 points and Paul Brown with nine.

“There was a lot of high anxiety (over this game),” El Capitan Coach Jim Gleboff said. “They took it to us in the first half. We adjusted our defense in the second.”