Lake View Looking to "Gel" as McCutchen Tournament Kicks Off Tournament Season

SAN ANGELO, TX-- Central and Lake View High Schools are set to host the widely known Doug McCutchen Memorial Tournament starting Thursday.

The Bobcats are 1-1 on the young season while the Chiefs are 3-1.

Both teams will get a chance to knock off the early season rust. This opportunity couldn’t come at a better time for the Chiefs.

“It’s gonna be a chance for us to figure out that team gel and that team fluidity,” head coach Courtney Bliskey said. “We’ve just gotta get that rolling. I thought tonight [against Ballinger] the guys coming off the bench did a great job considering they’ve been out for four games.”

Lake View was without four players to start the year. Ahmad Daniels, Johnny Espinosa, Kendall Blue and David Tanguma were busy in the football playoffs for the Chiefs.

They made a triumphant return to the court in a 58-55 come-from-behind win over Ballinger on Tuesday. Now, they have a chance to regain their form with senior point guard Dylan Hart and junior forward Jesse Greer.

In that win, Daniels scored a team-high 20 points for the Chiefs and Blue made some key defensive stops.

“I was pleasantly surprised,” Bliskey praised of their performances. “And then David, I thought he did a fantastic job coming off the bench. That was one thing I think I said in the huddle, that they gave us a good spark. Let’s ride it and keep building and keep growing with it.”

Those performances set the Chiefs up nicely for fine tuning their team as tournament play ramps up. Lake View will be pitted against the likes of Lubbock Monterey, El Paso Del Valle and San Antonio Reagan in pool play this weekend. Bliskey hopes that quality of play will benefit his team.

“With the high caliber of basketball coming in, it gives our kids a chance to see that type of basketball,” Bliskey continued, “and hopefully learn from it and elevate their game instead of playing at the same level or playing down.”

Following the McCutchen, Lake View still has the Abilene Wylie and Monahans tournaments left on their schedule.

“That’s a lot of games for these guys to get some hardwood under their feet,” Bliskey said. “Like I said, that’ll get that team spirit going again, hopefully. We’ve gotta learn from it, though, if we get beat. We say losses equal lessons. We’ve gotta learn from it, grow from it and be better the next week.”

Lake View and Central both open up the tournament at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday. Central will take on El Paso Ysleta at Babe Didrickson Gym while Lake View hosts Monterey at the Ben Norton Gym.

Lake View will also play at 4:00 p.m. against Del Valle.

The tournament runs from Thursday through Saturday.