English Valleys works through some kinks in exhibition

The English Valleys Bears hosted an eight team Jamboree on Monday, Nov. 20, with the home boys getting a draw against HLV. After three 16-minute games, the home crowd got their first chance to see what coach Caleb Lewis's Bears team would bring this season.

After a rough start, the Bears turned to one of their team leaders in Braydon Fisher. From that point, the Bears were able to start running their offense and gain some early confidence. After eight minutes of play, the Bears were down but not out, scoring 12 points while giving up 19.

"I thought offensively our base offense looked pretty good, for some of our young kids they finally got to see it in motion," Lewis said. "Our defense needs to improve, we need to match up and box out better going forward."

Fisher continued to get better as the game wore on, putting the team on his back. Multiple times he found himself getting one or two points from the free throw line, after attacking the defense in the post and getting a contested shot off or getting fouled hard.

"Braydon's put in a ton of work for this. There was about a six-minute span where I thought he took over the game," Lewis said. "He's going to ball out every game and tonight he was super happy and excited to get back out on the court."

The second half saw some cooling off at times for the home boys, scoring seven points in the final eight minutes. Fisher ended up scoring the most with 12 points, while Jacob Glandon also had two points on one made basket. HLV was able to put up 23 points in the second half, winning the short game 42-19.

For E.V., this was the first chance they had to play their defense against five other defenders, and vice versa with their offense. The Bears had a week off before playing HLV again to officially open up their season on November 27.