After finishing the 11-3 in the Mission division last season, the boys’ varsity basketball team got moved back up to the Gabilan Division of the PCAL.
With a new league will come tougher games and more challenges for the team and Coach Jose Gil is ready for them. “Competition is going to get harder but it should be fun for the fans, for the kids to be challenged more and it’ll prepare us for playoffs,” coach Gil said.
This year’s team consists of 14 players – seniors Joshua Sanchez, Kike Jacinto, Misael Palafox, Caleb Gabriel, Joshua Saldaña, and Nicolas Meza; juniors Kayden Posecion, Aaren Dimaano, Jayden Duarte, Diego Hernandez, Leonardo Nava, and Christian Lopez; and sophomores Pepe Jacinto, and Daniel Garcia.
The team started the preseason with 4 home games, including the Solis-Miles-Solis Tournament, a tournament that Alisal holds every year in honor of past Alisal athletes who passed away.
The Trojans opened the preseason against Seaside, and came up with a 68-32 win. In the Solis-Miles-Solis tournament the Trojans beat Greenfield 75-50 to go into the semifinals. They got their ticket into the finals with a win against York 74-29. In the finals, the Trojans beat Pioneer 51-34 making them champion of the tournament. “We prepared them well, our coaches do a phenomenal job of getting them ready for any opponent,” Gil said.
After the first 4 games coach Gil is already starting to see the team’s strengths. “We are going to be fast,” Gil said. “I anticipate us to be really exciting, fast paced, high energy defensively and I think a lot of kids are interchangeable to where it is like we can plug in a lot of kids and keep the speed going.”
One of two team captains this year, Kike Jacinto, a senior and 3 year varsity player, looks for the team to improve. “We have a lot of room for improvement and I feel like we will get better throughout the season,” Jacinto said.
Although he just came off a long football season he is getting in the rhythm for the upcoming basketball season. “I’m a little banged up still from football season on my knee, but other than that I am pretty good. I’m just trying to get back… [to the] perfect way to shoot the ball as I’m a little heavy right now but I’ll get there,” Jacinto said.
The second team captain and MVP of the tournament, Misael Palafox, a senior who is in his first year in the team has started to see how the team can succeed in the future. “We played very well, everything came out good since we did win. We play better when we play as a team and there is no individualism, (translated from Spanish)” Palafox said.
As league games start in less than a month, Gil plans on focusing on each game as they come. “Our goal is to take one game at a time, have fun enjoying the process,” Gil said.
After a second place finish in the Mission Division last year, the Trojans moved up to the Gabilan Division. Last season in the Gabilan, Carmel and Monterey tied for first while there was a 3 way tie for 3rd place. The gap between first and third was significant at 6 wins. “The league is going to be more equal than last year,” Gil said. “They [Carmel and Monterey] lost a lot of players and when they lose a lot of players, now other players have to fill those shoes and it’s not that easy.”
Gil is more focused on what he can control, which is how his team plays, and he is confident they will be prepared and ready to compete this year in the top division.
