Nine Metro teams represented at annual Sweetwater boys hoops tourney

by Phillip Brents

The Frank Pekarek National City Host Lions Club boys basketball tournament has faced off for another year. The 21-team tournament tipped off Saturday with games in four divisions at Sweetwater High School and will close this weekend with final-round contests.

Nine Metro Conference teams are represented on the court: Mater Dei Catholic, San Ysidro, Sweetwater, Otay Ranch, Eastlake, Bonita Vista, Southwest, Castle Park and Mar Vista.

East County teams entered include Mt. Miguel, Granite Hills, Foothills Christian and Monte Vista.

City Conference teams include Patrick Henry, University City, Mission Bay and Lincoln.

Vista and Westview are representing North County while Calexico and Southwest El Centro are making the trek from Imperial County.
Otay Ranch tipped off play with a prodigious 105-19 win over Foothills Christian while Bonita Vista topped Lincoln 70-44.

Tourney-host Sweetwater improved to 2-0 with a 58-46 win over Granite Hills on Monday after defeating Southwest El Centro 68-41 on Saturday.

In another game on Monday, Eastlake edged Lincoln 42-41.

Southwest defeated Granite Hills, 67-50, on Tuesday to improve to 8-3 on the season following tough tourney losses to Westview (72-56) and Patrick Henry (65-60).

Senior Noah Soltero led the Raiders with 28 points against Granite Hills while sophomore Alex Cardoso dropped in 17 points.

Southwest returns under head coach Steve Selland in his 40th season with the Raiders, 44th overall. During that span, Southwest has won seven league titles, made five CIF championship appearances and two trips to the Southern California regional/state tournament.

The Raiders finished runner-up in last year’s section finals.

“We are obviously rebuilding after two excellent years, but we do have one returning player who has had a great career — senior Noah Soltero — who finished runner up for player of the year in the league last season,” Selland noted. “We are working in three young sophomores to the lineup who show promise for the future — Christian Borja, Nathan Balce and Alex Cardoso. Other two mainstays are seniors Elijah Traylor and Steven Santos.”

Soltero is averaging 23.0 points per game, Traylor 9.6 ppg and Cardoso 9.4 ppg.

Sweetwater finished as Metro-Pacific League co-champions with Chula Vista last season. Six players return from that team for the Red Devils, including senior Talan Jesiulis and junior Karl Gonzales, both first team all-league performers, and junior Collin Shaw. Freshman Romie Reid is the impact newcomer.

“Our team will be like in the past,” SuHi head coach Jesse Aguirre said. “We’re small but we hustle.”

Eastlake’s top trio includes senior Jordan Salvador, junior Mason Ruyeras and senior Brayden Coladilla.
“Last year we had size but were slow,” second-year head coach Ryan Gardocki said. “This year, we’re smaller but faster, shooting a lot of threes.”

Eastlake’s Braydenb Coladilla brings the ball up court in a tournament game against Lincoln. Photo by Phillip Brents

Mater Dei Catholic finished 7-21 last season with a first-round appearance in the Division I playoffs. The Crusaders enter the 2025-26 season under new head coach Bazz Fontenot.

“I want to establish a culture in the program,” the new MDCHS coach said. “I want to get the guys to rally together and become a team. We can accomplish more together than apart.”

He said he wants his team to play an energetic style. “We’re going to play fast and be tenacious on defense. We want to be a team that other teams have trouble playing against.”

Top players include senior guard Jonathan Hawethorne, sophomore guard Jasir Fontenot (a CIF championship hurdler) and sophomore forward Jonathan Okhueleigbe.

Mater Dei Catholic vs. Patrick Henry. Photos by Phillip Brents

Bonita Vista on a roll

Bonita Vista improved to 4-0 in tournament play, 8-2 on the season, after defeating Otay Ranch, 70-49, on Tuesday, Southwest, 69-34, on Wednesday and University City, 70-56, on Thursday. The Barons enter Saturday’s final-round game against Patrick Henry riding a seven-game winning streak.

Bonita Vista broke out to a 24-7 lead on UC before the Centurions doubled up the Barons 20-10 in the second quarter to make it a close gaqme at halftime, 34-27, with Bonita Vista still in the lead. The Barons righted themselves with a 22-13 run in the third quarter to stretch their lead to 56-40 entering the fourth quarter. UC finished the game with a 16-14 scoring edge as Bonita Vista won out with a 14-point advantage.

In statistics tabulated through seven games, junior J.J. Stokes led the Barons with an 184 scoring average, followed by sophomore Sawyer Rhoades at 9.3 ppg, senior Josh Hansen at 9.1 and senior Adam Mitchell at 9.0. Rebounds leaders included Mitchell (7.7 rpg) and Hansen (5.7 rpg). Stokes was the team’s assist leader with 4.9 per game.