Clovis North edges San Leandro 59-56 in Back and Forth Battle

Clovis North’s Malachi Henry (#4) dribbles past a San Leandro defender on Friday, Dec. 13, 2019. (Ryan Kish/Clovis Roundup)

Ak Okereke scored 20 points and the Clovis North Boys Basketball team won an extremely physical game against the Bay Area’s San Leandro High School 59-56 in the Nike Invitational held at Clovis West.

Broncos’ Terri Miller added 12 points on the night, including 6 points in the fourth quarter. The 6’7 center won crucial battles underneath the net as both teams battled for rebounds.

“Every game presents different challenges and were just trying to ruse up to them and see if we can overcome them,” head coach Tony Amundsen said when asked if this game was the Broncos’ toughest so far.

The defenses of Clovis North and San Leandro each made their opposition work hard for every bucket scored. Clean drives to the net were far and few between and shots from outside the arc were rarely taken without a defender in close proximity.

“We played them [San Leandro] twice in the summer and it was the same type of game where everything was just a struggle for both teams,” Amundsen said. Adding that that style of play is the “… fun part about basketball.”

San Leandro’s Ciri Sawyer made a three-point shot that briefly brought the Pirates within two points in the final minute of the game, but free-throws from Clovis North’s Sammy Al-Saber and Malachi Henry helped keep the Broncos in the lead.

An attempt at a buzzer-beating shot from San Leandro fell short and gave the Broncos their ninth win of the season. This three-point win is Clovis North’s smallest margin of victory this year, the Broncos are still undefeated.

Such a closely contested game presented a good opportunity for the Broncos to work on their mental toughness, which head coach Amundsen cited as an area of their game that the team was still looking to develop.

“We want these kinds of games to develop our mental toughness, that’s one of our goals; to get mentally tough and be able to win close games at the end,” Amundsen said.

Junior Maile was San Leandro’s top scorer — he scored 22 points.

Ryan graduated from Buchanan High School in 2018 and is currently a student at Clovis Community College and plans to transfer to a four-year school to complete a degree in journalism or political science. Ryan was born in Pennsylvania, has lived in four states, and thinks the Yankees need to be more creative with the design of their batting practice hats.