ROCKLIN, Calif. - The Warriors opened the 11th Annual Bill Holtz Classic hosting first-time competitor Bethesda University on Horton Court Friday night. Despite a slow start, the Warriors came alive and gave the crowd quite a show taking the 85-48 victory in style with three dunks in the final half of play to advance to 3-0 on the season.

"I think that we are really versatile," head coach Lance Von Vogt said of his team. "We have some guys that can do a lot of stuff and I think the fans enjoy it, I enjoy it, and that's why we recruit those types of guys to add a fun atmosphere. Every year we look forward to this tournament, anytime you get home games and it has a cause behind it is awesome."

Neck-and-neck through the first 8-minutes of play, the Warriors found their groove when leading scorer for the Warriors Tate DeLaVeaga hit his second three for the night followed by another from Brandon Lindsey to take the 17-10 lead midway through the first half.

"Tate was terrific tonight," Von Vogt said, "And I thought Brandon Lindsey was terrific as well in an all around game despite his poor shooting"

The Warriors would maintain the momentum and force the lead to as much as 10 points (31-21) with two minutes left. The energy continued through the buzzer as Jessup went on a 9-2 run capped by a deep three-pointer by Antonio Lewis to take the 40-23 lead into the half.

DeLaVeaga continued his dominance from beyond the arc opening the second half with back-to-back threes as the Warriors had their largest lead of the game at the 16:19 mark (43-27).

In the final six minutes of play the Warriors got the fans on their feet as Brennan Rakoz delivered a nice pass to the cutting Luis Medearis for a slam dunk, only to be reversed not shortly after as Rakoz went to the rim with a pass from Medearis to go up 72-44 with less than five minutes remaining.  

If that wasn't enough drama for the night, the Warriors closed the night out in style as Leondre Lintz put up a lofty pass to the flying Jayvon Stone to seal the deal with an alley-oop for Jessup and the 85-48 victory over the Flames.

DeLaVeaga retired for the night leading the Warriors with 24 points, going 6-for-10 from beyond the arc. He was accompanied by Medearis with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists and Lewis with 12 points and 9 boards. 

"I thought we took a few steps forward defensively tonight and also stayed pretty consistent across the 40 minutes winning 7 of the 8 five-minute mini-quarters that we break the game into," reflected Von Vogt. "It was also good to see us continue to work even when we were struggling offensively and with our shots."

The Warriors will be back on Horton Court tomorrow for the earlier game at 5pm to take on Oregon Tech to close out Bill Holtz play.

"We will need an even better performance on Saturday to be successful against a ranked team like OIT," Von Vogt concluded.

 
William Jessup University is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), and the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC). For additional information regarding Jessup Athletics, visit www.jessupathletics.com; visit www.jessup.edu for more information on William Jessup University. Follow Jessup Athletics on social media: William Jessup University Athletics (Facebook) and @JessupAthletics (Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat).