OXFORD ACADEMY DOUGLAS USELTON MEMORIAL D5 CHALLENGE TOURNAMENT: Valley Christian’s second half three-point shooting sinks Norwalk in tournament opener

December 31, 2025

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

CYPRESS-The Valley Christian High boys basketball team was making its debut at the Oxford Academy Douglas Uselton Memorial D5 Challenge Tournament and made the most of its first time here. After a sluggish first half that saw the Defenders shoot 29 percent from the field and lead Norwalk High by a point at the half, they went to town from beyond the arc in the second half.

V.C. connected on nine of 13 three-pointers after halftime and ran away for a 55-33 victory last Friday afternoon. V.C. head coach Dijon Thompson credits the Christmas meal his team had for the sudden barrage of shots made in the second half.

“I think it was just the holiday dinner yesterday,” said Thompson. “That first quarter, we were just in the holiday funk; we were just sleepwalking in the first quarter and first half, and we just woke up [in the second half].”

“It was definitely the difference for them,” said Norwalk head coach Jim Webster. “We couldn’t keep up, and we could not figure out their run and jump defense to take advantage of that and get some easy baskets when I thought we probably could have.”

V.C. trailed the entire first quarter until freshman Michael Alviar tied the game with 30 seconds left in the stanza, then took its first lead of the contest 25 seconds into the second quarter on senior Nathan Maurer’s basket. The lead would change hands three more times in the next two minutes, but V.C. would have the final say over the last 1:25 of the half, getting a pair of free throws from senior Mikey Fuentes and another basket from Alviar to take a 17-16 lead into the intermission.

The Lancers were six of 22 from the field in the half and had three players score while half a dozen players found the scoring column for the Defenders.

“We were missing opportunities by not playing faster,” said Thompson. “I think in the second half, we played a little bit faster and started pushing the ball up the court a little bit.”

“You can look at it two ways,” said Webster. “I thought we should have been able to score a little easier and get a lead. But I knew at some point they were going to start making some shots, which they did, and were we going to be able to keep up?

“I was trying to get them to get out of that run and jump and keep the ball in the middle of the floor and then find the guy we were trying to trap and move the ball on attack,” he later said. “But we weren’t able to really take advantage of it. Then obviously not making any shots spurred a lot of their transition and some of those easy looks.”

When sophomore Simon Vasquez drained the team’s second trifecta just 55 seconds into the second half, it gave the Defenders a 20-18 lead they would not relinquish and was the beginning of a 15-6 run that also saw Fuentes hit four three-pointers and one more from Vasquez.

The Defenders closed out the final 1:28 of the quarter on an 8-0 run to lead 40-23, and after Norwalk senior Jeriel De Los Reyes sank a pair of free throws in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter, V.C. went on a 12-0 run, aided by a pair of three-pointers from freshman Hamza Harvey.

Norwalk was led by senior David Zazueta and sophomore Noah Correa, each scoring eight points with the former grabbing four rebounds while sophomore Bhavya Verma came off the bench to add seven points and pull down five boards.

The V.C. bench was the star of the game, outscoring its starters 43-12 with Fuentes leading the charge with 13 points, followed by Harvey (12 points, three rebounds), Alviar (10 points, four rebounds) and junior Finn Berkes (eight points, two steals). Last season, the Defenders graduated just four players from a team of 12, but only five of the eight players returned with Mauer the only one with extensive playing time.

“We’re always going to be kind of like a brand new team, in a way,” said Thompson. “A lot of guys don’t have a lot of varsity experience, but we’re working, we’re developing and they’re doing the best they can.”

Norwalk would bounce back to defeat Chowchilla High 68-48 last Saturday before falling to Pacifica High 52-40 this past Monday. This past Tuesday, the Lancers defeated Santa Fe High 46-24 behind a career-high 12 points from Correa, and at 10-7, they are in a familiar position of putting more pressure on themselves to finish in the top three in the Mid-Cities League and not relying on the 50-50 chance of getting an at-large berth to the CIF-Southern Section playoffs. Norwalk would have to go at least 4-6 in league action to finish with an overall record north of .500. The Lancers host Firebaugh High on Friday before going to Downey High on Wednesday.

“This is our third year in the tournament, and we haven’t really played well here overall,” said Webster. “I think it’s kind of like a Christmas mental break, and it’s hard to tell. It’s not a turning point, but it’s more of a ‘can we turn it on once we get back to school and get back to normal’ [situation].”

V.C would lose to Pacifica 57-43 last Saturday and defeat Chowchilla 56-28 this past Monday. The Defenders wrapped up the tournament playing Kennedy High for third place this past Tuesday and were 9-6 entering the contest. They begin Olympic League action on Friday with a home game against Maranatha High before going to Newport Christian High on Tuesday and hosting Tarbut V’ Torah High on Wednesday in a pair of none-league games.