A Special Birthday Gift for CSDR CSD Riverside hosted a game against league rival California Lutheran on a very special day for CSDR- its 63rd birthday. Close to 350 fans were in attendance. The big crowd, many of them wearing red clothes, added to the full house along with the athletes, coaches, cheerleaders, former students,…
A Special Birthday Gift for CSDR
CSD Riverside hosted a game against league rival California Lutheran on a very special day for CSDR- its 63rd birthday. Close to 350 fans were in attendance. The big crowd, many of them wearing red clothes, added to the full house along with the athletes, coaches, cheerleaders, former students, teachers, staff, alumni, families, and the community. Another special event was the recognition of Noah Valencia joining the 1000 points club. He’s the fifth member in CSDR history. He joins his father/coach Jeremias Valencia, John Foronda, his uncle Jaimie Valencia, and Jerry Moore.
CSDR had not won against Cal Lutheran since January 25, 2011. The last time the two teams played was when CSDR traveled to Cal Lutheran in December 2015 and lost by 4 points. Cal Lutheran was second in the league last year and did win the league championship and went on to be the runner up in the state three years ago. Most of the players from Cal Lutheran are seniors this year.
CSDR and Cal Lutheran engaged in a hot battle during the first quarter. The score at the end of the 1st was 13-12, Cal Lutheran leading. In the second quarter, CSDR staged a comeback with a 4-0 run, but with 3.6 seconds left before halftime, Cal Lutheran shot a three-pointer from near half court and it helped them maintain the lead, 27-25.
In the third quarter, CSDR finally stepped up to another level and led the scoring in the quarter, 20-16. In the fourth quarter, CSDR had a 6-point lead but Cal Lutheran was a stubborn team and came back with five straight three pointers. However, CSDR answered back with 22 out of 32 free throws which helped CSDR grab the victory.
Noah Valencia scored 46 points with 15 out of 19 free throws and 7 for 15 three pointers. DeSean Welch stepped up in a big way with 10 points and 12 points, as did Christian Jacobs with 5 points and 12 rebounds.
Noah also broke a new school record- the most points in a single season. The old record was held by Raymond Nelson (’11) with 624 points. Noah now has 631 points with 5 more games to go in the season.
“It was a really great victory for our school. The community support was amazing and it really helped our boys win tonight. If not for the crowd- I don’t think we would have done as well. I want to thank everyone who showed up. It means a lot to CSDR, our community, and especially our team,” stated Coach Valencia.
CSDR will host a league game against Riverside Christian tonight (Wednesday Feb. 3) at 6:00 p.m. at the MAC.
