In Trent Skinner’s first year as the full-time head coach of the Eagles, the Eagles finished 23-6 and made the CCCAA playoffs where they were eliminated in the second round against the Seahawks of LA Harbor. So far, the Eagles have picked up from where they left off last year and are now 6-0 to start the season after beating the Seahawks in their rematch from the CCCAA playoffs.
“Today we played well. We struggled a bit with offensive rebounds that got them some easy baskets, but we stuck to our game plan. Offensively, we pushed the ball in transition, we shared the ball, and played the way we’ve been playing.” Coach Skinner
In this matchup, the 5-0 Eagles hosted the 1-3 Seahawks. The Eagles and Seahawks was a back-and-forth game in the first five minutes as both teams capitalized on defensive rebounds, but the Eagles’ balanced offensive attack overwhelmed the Seahawks and the Eagles went on multiple runs and outscored the Seahawks 31-18 after it was a 17-15 game to close the first half. The Eagles went into halftime with a 48-33 lead which was capped off with a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Dasean Stevens. The second half of the game saw the Eagles continuing where they left off in the first half as they never took their foot off the gas. The beginning of the second half was a lot like the ending of the first half. The Eagles were up 95-65 against the Seahawks with three minutes left to go and at that point, the Eagles took their starters out of the game and let their bench players get minutes on the court. The Eagles held on to win 99-78 and improve to 6-0.
The Eagles are off to a hot 6-0 start and the offense has clicked to start the young season. When asked about the start, Coach Skinner highlighted the team’s experience. “We have six-seven people that played minutes at Mt. San Jacinto either last year or the year before and at this level, it’s not very common. Having that much experience come back really got us going and not have any learning curve.” He continued “We just got right to what we’re good at.”
“Sharing the ball and our chemistry. We hang out outside of practice and outside of games. With everyone liking each other it helps with our performance in the game and moving the ball.” Isaiah Skinner said of the Eagles’ hot start.
The chemistry and ball-sharing were shown in their game against the Seahawks as five players on the Eagles scored 10 or more points with Dasean Stevens and Isaiah Skinner scoring over 20 points. This was the third consecutive game the Eagles had five players hit the double-digit mark, highlighting their ball-sharing.
The Eagles’ next home game will be on Sat. Dec. 23 against Victor Valley. Tickets for the game can be purchased here.
