Daniel, McNeill excel in new roles for Golden Valley basketball

LIVINGSTON – Isaac Daniel and Lee McNeill are the only returning players who saw significant time on last season’s Golden Valley High School team that won a share of the Central California Conference championship.

Both came off the bench and averaged 3.2 points combined.

The seniors will play bigger roles this season, and they showed why Monday night. Daniel scored 25 points and McNeill 20 as Golden Valley withstood a 30-point performance from Livingston’s Harman Singh in a 66-56 nonleague victory at Angelo Naldi Court.

“We need Lee to play the point, the post and all five spots,” said Golden Valley coach Keith Hunter, whose team improved to 2-1. “We need Isaac to run the show. Last year, Isaac could come in and play free. If he turned the ball over, I could sit him down. I can’t do that this year.

“They’re both doing a good job so far, but we still have a way to go.”

Hunter left Monday night feeling good. Remember, the Cougars opened the season by being outscored 30-0 in the first quarter by Sierra of Manteca two weeks ago in a 72-20 loss.

Golden Valley has since won back-to-back games.

“What I liked tonight was we rebounded better,” Hunter said. “We even got called for two or three fouls on rebounds. We blocked out better. It’s OK to be a little too physical. We did a decent job of getting them out of the paint.”

Daniel and McNeill provided consistent offense for the Cougars. Daniel scored five points in each of the first three quarters and then helped close out the game with 10 points in the fourth, including making all eight shots from the free throw line in the final quarter.

“I have to be strong with the ball and lead this team,” Daniel said. “I have to stay positive.”

McNeill also spread his scoring throughout all four quarters.

“Coach expects me to play all the spots,” McNeill said. “Every night I have to bring my all. Last year, I didn’t get that many minutes. I tried to make the best of it. I have to work hard to do good this year.”

Singh was almost single-handedly keeping the Wolves (1-3) in the game. He scored 12 of Livingston’s first 14 points before picking up his third foul with six minutes left in the first half. He kept Golden Valley from running away with the game in fourth, scoring 12 points.

El Capitan 73, Oakdale 62 (3 OT) in Oakdale – The Gauchos needed three overtimes to improve to 3-2. James Sellers led four El Cap players in double figures with 18 points.

Wrestling

Golden Valley wins Falcon Shootout in Oakley – The Cougars went 4-0 on Saturday to win the Falcon Shootout at Freedom High. Golden Valley had victories over Freedom, Castro Valley, James Logan-Union City and Oak Ridge-El Dorado Hills.

Criselio Rivera, Tanner Browning and Joey Terry all went 4-0 to help the Cougars improve to 5-0 this season.

This story was originally published December 8, 2014 at 10:48 PM with the headline "Daniel, McNeill excel in new roles for Golden Valley basketball."