Prep basketball: Inderkum Tigers race past Monterey Trail with redemption on their minds
Wednesday night’s non-league game between local powerhouses Monterey Trail and Inderkum was tied at halftime. Inderkum started the game with a 13-2 run on its home floor before the visiting Mustangs made a spirited comeback in the second quarter.
The Tigers came out of the halftime break with renewed intensity on the defensive end and started sharing the ball more on offense. That’s when the tidal wave hit.
Inderkum (24-2), the winner of 17 consecutive games and The Bee’s second-ranked team, outscored Monterey Trail by 29 points in the second half to run away with an 88-59 victory with one regular season game left on the schedule.
What happened in the halftime locker room was emblematic of a theme for the Tigers all season.
“In the locker room before I spoke,” head coach Fred Wilson said, “our seniors were barking at the team. So that was something that we had last year, but it’s even more (prevalent) this year.”
A quartet of Tiger seniors — Jalen Glenn, Jermaine Haliburton, Rohan Singh Shameer and Zach Chan, with a slew of others — went through the heartbreak last season of losing in the playoffs after starting 27-0. This year, Inderkum already had clinched the Capital Valley Conference championship with a perfect 11-0 league record before Wednesday.
But the playoffs are looming, which means the intensity is ratcheting up. The Tigers have a section championship on their minds.
“We’re trying to get playoff ready,” Wilson said. “We did a lot of good things last year, but we came up short. That’s in the back of our minds. ... We understand that feeling and never want to have that again.”
Glenn led the way with 22 points and a handful of highlight reel dunks in the second half. Shameer added 19 points, including three 3s in the third quarter when the blowout was underway. Chan added 12 while Haliburton handled the ball and spearheaded the Tigers’ full-court defense in his first game back after dealing with an ankle injury.
Inderkum’s regular season ends Thursday when it hosts senior night in Natomas against Antelope, which gives Wilson’s team another opportunity to gear up for the bigger challenge of the playoffs.
Wilson believes the team can win the section and compete for a Northern California regional championship.
“I challenge them every day to be better,” Wilson said. “I’m not going to say too many great things about today, because I want them to understand that you can be better tomorrow. So, when we go in the locker room, I’m gonna say some good things, but I’m gonna really harp on the things we need to get better.”
