Renaissance Academy Boys’ Cagers Have no Problem Stopping Netan Eli

The Renaissance Academy boys’ varsity basketball team won its third American League contest in a row last Saturday, easily defeating Los Angeles Natan Eli, 80-22.

The Wildcats improved to 12-4 overall and to 3-0 in league.

Over the last two seasons, Renaissance Academy has usually defeated its league opponents by big margins.

The Wildcats received a surprise last Friday as they went up against a league opponent who made them work for their win. They had to put in more effort than usual in order to beat host Los Angeles Windward, 58-52.

Windward actually led 14-11 at the end of the first quarter and, while the Wildcats came back in the second quarter, they only had a modest 23-20 advantage at the half.

Renaissance barely outscored Windward, 35-32, in the second half.

The Wildcats had three players who scored in double figures, Archie Robb with 23 points and Justin Cook and Shane Jones with 15 and 14 points, respectively.

Earlier, Renaissance opened league play in impressive style by burying visiting Pasadena Waverly, 91-17, last Thursday.

The Wildcats led 26-9 at the end of the first quarter. Renaissance held Waverly to no points in the second quarter and increased its advantage to 42-9 at the half. The Wildcats blew their opponents away in the second half by outscoring them, 49-8.

Five members of Renaissance scored in double figures. Josh Thomas led all scorers with 18 points. Cook was next with 16 points, Tremaine Tatum pumped in 14 points, Hector Harold contributed 12 points and Jonathan Greff came through with 11 points.

Other scorers were Matt Raya with nine pojnts, Robb with eight points and Michael Green with three points.