Big 2nd quarter leads Braves over Spartans

Trailing by a point after the first eight minutes, Hamilton High's boys basketball team out-shot visiting East Nicolaus 23-10 in the second quarter and went on to defeat the Spartans 63-53 on Friday.

The Braves' Shea Shull hit 23 points to lead all scorers, with Tim Bekendam pitching in with 14 points.

The duo's offensive output helped offset 16 points by East Nic's Dylan Thornsberry, 15 from Drew Orr and 11 by Zach Schuler.

Leland Prior and Andrew Whitsett put up matching sevens in the scoring column for Hamilton, and Bekendam was the team's leading rebounder with eight boards.

The Braves were bank from the free-throw line, canning 11 of 14 attempts.

Ricky Pompa pestered the Spartans with three steals, and Theron Fumasi passed out three assists.

Hamilton (15-10, 7-4 Sacramento Valley League) closes the regular season on Friday, when they host Durham.