On the winning track

The wake-up call came about two weeks ago for the Live Oak High boys basketball team.

Up in Durham, the Lions found out just how difficult things will be in the Sacramento Valley League this season. A 16-point loss to the Trojans was followed by a 53-41 loss at Willows.

The intensity and effort that helped the Lions put together an impressive nonconference record were absent in the first week of SVL play. They had faced Lindhurst, Corning and other significantly larger schools over the first 11 games of the season before league.

"Walking into the league, I don't think the kids expected it to be at the level it was," Live Oak coach Buljit Dhami said. "We looked flat. I think our defensive effort those first two games was lacking."

Things changed dramatically this week.

Dhami and his coaching staff kept driving a message home all week — buy-in to the defensive side before thinking of offense.

The Lions followed up Tuesday's 54-37 victory over Pierce with a 60-36 rout of Colusa on Thursday night in their first SVL home game at Ron Pritchard Gym.

Dhami said his team keeps progressively getting better as each league game comes. Over the next month the Lions will be jockeying for playoff position in the Northern Section Division IV postseason.

A strong showing the rest of the way in the SVL will help that cause.

"You can see it, each game we seem to get much better," Dhami said. "It's a nice improvement, but we still have a ways to go."

Senior Jasnit Mahal showed off his smooth stroke all evening and finished with a game-high 24 points to go along with nine rebounds. Fellow senior Carlos Venegas added 10 points and had four assists.

Junior Aaron Pamma, who's making the transition to point guard, made four assists, scored eight points and pulled down 10 rebounds.

Live Oak (9-7, 2-2) led 32-20 at the half and stretched things out in the third quarter with a 13-4 run. A cold shooting night doomed Colusa as the RedHawks (10-8, 0-4) only made 6 of 19 free throws and shot 31 percent from the field.

After jumping out to a 10-4 record to begin the season, Colusa is still searching for answers in league play.

Second-year coach Marty Remmers said inconsistent shooting performances like Thursday have been the team's downfall over the past two seasons.

"It's a tough league and we've got to find a way to make adjustments," Remmers said. "We have to shoot with confidence, I saw a lot of bad body language from our guys tonight.

"That's what concerns me the most."

Senior Bre'on Jones led Colusa with 12 points and senior Cyrus Yerxa scored 10 for the RedHawks.

The RedHawks travel to Weaverville on Saturday to face Trinity and begin the next cycle of league play on Wednesday against Pierce.

Live Oak will host Durham on Tuesday.

With the confidence of a two-game win streak, Dhami is hoping the rematch will go differently.

"This is probably one of the toughest leagues," he said. "I don't think anybody in this league will go undefeated."