Downey’s Emari Welcome (2) drives the ball down court as they play Cerritos in their non-league boys basketball game at Downey High School on Saturday December 21, 2024. Downey defeated Cerritos 54-48. (Photo by Keith Durflinger)

DOWNEY - As the preseason winds down for the Downey High School Boys Basketball team, the Vikings swept their final two nonleague games last week and are competing in the Annual Desert Holiday Classic in the Palm Springs area this week, December 26-28. They were scheduled to play Imperial, Beaumont and Capistrano Valley. (Results are not available due to press deadlines)

The Vikings (8-6) will jump right into San Gabriel Valley league action with a game against their rival Warren next Friday (January 3) at home.

In a game against visiting Schurr High (2-8) on Thursday (Dec. 19), the Vikings went over the .500 mark with a 64-57 victory and defeated visiting Cerritos (4-8), 54-48 Saturday (Dec. 21).

“It was two victories that we had to grind out,” said Downey coach Tyler Ellis, who played for the Vikings from 2008-2010 and was the leading scorer in his senior year. “(The wins) were against two quality programs that play really hard.

“I’m happy that we’re figuring ways to win, and I think the other side of it is we could be winning by a little bit more. We got some self-inflicted wounds down the stretch that are keeping these games close.”

Downey 64, Schurr 57

Leading the way for Downey was 6-5 guard Tyler Harris with a game-high 29 points (8 of 13, 62%, 6 RB, 3 of 5 3PM), which included a perfect 10 for 10 at the charity stripe. The senior is averaging 21 points per game.

“I think one of the biggest things in the gamer to us is we played to them,” Harris said. “But after the skirmish, we stepped it up a little.

“It only gets better from here. I hope it’ll click in league.”

The 29 points is his second highest output this season, and his ninth game with 20 or more per game.

Downey senior guard Earl Santos (4 for 5 2 Pt. FGM) and senior forward Emanuel Sapiter (7 RB) added 8 and 6 points, respectively.

Schurr, which poured in eight 3-pointers as a team, was led by Jacob Guzman with a team-high 15 points, which included three long-range baskets. Nathan Ortega scored nine points (2 3’s) and Isaiah Hoffman and Seth White added eight points each.

Schurr started off with a 4-0 lead, which quickly disappeared after Harris hit a short jump shot and a 3-pointer to and eventually took a 9-4 lead halfway through the first quarter.

It was all Downey from there as they were in the middle of a 13-0 run to end the quarter to lead, 15-8. Harris added a couple of free throws, as he led the quarter with seven points.

White led with six points for the Spartans in the quarter.

Schurr opened the second quarter with a 5-2 run, to close within four points, 17-13, but the Vikings came right back and built up their first double-digit lead, 23-13, with a 6-0 run of their own. Harris and Santos scored four and two points, respectively, for Downey.

“It felt like we had multiple eight to 12-point leads throughout the game and struggled to put Schurr away,” Ellis said. “Credit to them for continuing to play hard and hitting some timely shots, but it also felt like we had a lot of self-inflicted wounds in terms of having a defensive breakdown at the wrong time or fouling unnecessarily. We fouled a 3-point shooter multiple times.”

Like Ellis said, Schurr hit some timely shots and midway through the quarter, the Spartans closed to within three points, 27-24, with a couple of long-range shots.

Harris (3-pointer) and Sapiter (2 Free throws) closed out the half with a 5-3 advantage to lead 32-27 at the break. Schurr ended the quarter with its biggest output of the game with 19 points in the second.

Midway through the third quarter the Vikings again built up a 10-point lead, 44-34, on a layup by junior guard Shane Costello.

Costello, who had 12 points in the game, was named Player of the Game by coach Ellis.

“We have been urging (Costello) to be more aggressive and I thought (Thursday) he was very aggressive, so a little positive reinforcement for him,” Ellis said.

Senior forward Jeffrey Flores led the Vikings in the third quarter with five points.

Another 12-point advantage by Downey gave the Vikings a 50-38 lead with 5:28 left in the game on the third 3-pointer by Harris.

A Downey turnover, followed by a turn-around layup by Guzman cut the lead to 10, 50-40, but a couple of free throws by the Vikings’ Emari Welcome upped the score to 12 again, 52-40.

With 2:30 left, a little pushing and shoving delayed the game a little before order was restored.

With less than a minute left in the game, Harris sank all six of his free throw attempts to seal the win for the Vikings.

“I was pleased,” said Ellis, of the game. “However, with our composure down the stretch, especially in the last two and a half minutes, after the little scuffle that ensued, I thought we handled it well and focused on finishing the game and executed against their pressure.

“We also did a good job of getting it to our best free throw shooter (Harris) when we knew they had to foul.”

Harris finished off the quarter with his biggest output of the game, as he scored 13 of the Vikings 19 points, which included 6 for 6 at the line.

Downey 54, Cerritos 48

It was another grind out win for the Vikings, as they handled Cerritos and are two games over .500 in preseason.

Leading the way again was Harris (15 RB) with a game-high 20 points and continues to be nearly perfect at the line, going 11 for 12. Harris is 43 of 48 in his last eight games.

Also in double figures was senior guard Emilio Jaimes (2 for 4 3PM) with 10 points and with eight points each was senior guard Frank Ibarra (2 for 5 3PM, 3 A, 3 RB) and Costello.

“Obviously Tyler Harris is our big guy,” said Ellis, of his leader. “I think everyone knows that. He’s our leading scorer. The kid’s been 20 points and pretty much been a walking double-double for two years now.

“Other than that, we’re pretty much by committee. We got a really good point guard, Amarie Welcome. He’s a Swiss army knife for us. He’s putting up stat lines where it’s seven points, seven rebounds, five assists. It feels like one or two guys that are hot and a lot of guys that are playing hard. And Tyler has been money all year at the free throw line.”

Welcome talked of the game with Cerritos: “(Saturday) we had a good win versus Cerritos,” he said. “We came out really hard in the first half playing good defense, but in the second half we went down a little bit energy wise. We picked it back up a little and got the dub (win).

“My keys in the game are driving in the paint and collapsing the defense and finding an open man and playing good defense on one of their best players and shutting him down.”

This is the 10th game that Harris has scored 20 or more points for the Vikings.

“It was a good game (Saturday) and was a close battle,” Harris said. “It really came down to last second rebounding. I think if we need to take care of the ball more, it would have led to more open shots. It was a good effort.”

Jaimes opened the Vikings scoring with a three pointer and later with the score tied, 5-5, the Vikings went on an 11-5 run to end the quarter, led by Harris with nine points.

Downey nearly doubled the lead in the second quarter with a 16-point outburst, while Cerritos only managed seven.

Highlighting the last 1:44 of the quarter was a layup and two short jump shots for six points by Costello to hold a 32-17 lead heading into the intermission.

After the break, the Dons came roaring back with 18 points in the third quarter to the Vikings 11. Downey held a 16-point lead, 41-25 lead with 3:30 left, but Cerritos came crawling back with a 10-2 run to end the quarter.

Senior Jaden Ribac scored 11 of the Dons 18 points in the quarter, with five in the last 1:44. Cerritos closed to within eight points, 43-35.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Vikings held a 12-point lead, 47-35, on a short jump shot by Flores with 6:05 left.

The Dons cut the lead in half with an 8-2 run and trailed by six, 49-43, with 1:04 left. Early in that run, nearly three minutes elapsed with neither team scoring.

Downey finished the game with five free throws, three of them by Harris, as they matched the Dons five points for the six-point victory.

In the fourth quarter, seven of the 11 Vikings points came from the free throw line.

With league right around the corner, Harris added, “What I’m looking forward to is a league championship,” he said. “I think we have the capability to do it, but will we go out there and be confident in our abilities.”

Coach Ellis summed up the win and upcoming games.

“It was kind of an ugly game, but I’m glad we’re winning ugly games,” Ellis said. “A win’s a win and we’re 8-6 right now, and we’re trying to build off of this. This will be good film for us and then we’re headed to Palm Springs.”

Downey Girls Basketball

The girls finish their final two pre-season games with wins over Vista Murrieta (48-45) with freshman Natalie Gomez and senior Amanada Velazquez leading the way with 16 points each.

In the 47-46 win over Cerritos, Gomez (15 pts.) and freshman Bella Mejia (13) led the way.

They will also head to the Palm Springs Desert Holiday Classic with games against Yucca Valley, Redlands East Valley and Palm Desert.