During the first week of San Diego Hoops’ regular season, Beach City Market used solid outside shooting to beat The Welch Group in a 49-37 win on Nov. 15 at the Joan Kroc Center.

Both teams started the game a bit rusty, missing several shots before Beach City Market finally connected on some and took an early 6-2 lead.

Beach City Market’s point guard Brandon Culley, who shot solidly throughout the game, hit two consecutive 3-point shots to increase their lead to 12-4. Then The Welch Group’s Angel Hernandez hit a 3-pointer of his own to cut the lead to 12-7.

A few minutes later, Jason Farr hit another 3-pointer to get The Welch Group within 3 points at 15-12, but that’s as close as they would get during the first half.

Beach City Market’s offense really came together in a 9-0 run, featuring several fast breaks, easy layups and another 3-pointer by Culley to increase their lead to 24-12.

The combination of Culley’s accurate passes to Sereeta Jones worked effectively as Beach City Market continued to pad their first half lead to 28-16.

The Welch Group continued to miss the mark on several jump shots and seemed to have a difficult time countering Beach City Market’s ferocious pace up and down the court. After a missed 3-point shot by Julio Montano, Dan Mosher was able to grab a rebound and throw in a layup with three minutes left in the half.

At halftime, Beach City Market had a comfortable 32-18 lead and looked poised to hold onto it.

The second half was more of an even game, as Beach City Market began to lose their focus slightly and turned the ball over more frequently. The Welch Group capitalized on this and slowly climbed their way back into the game.

Farr eventually connected with Montano on the inside for a layup, and The Welch Group cut their 14-point deficit to 10 points at 34-24.

Beach City Market coach Sergio Villegas played solidly throughout the game, connecting with many of his jump shots, including an off-balanced basket, to keep his team in the lead at 37-26.

“What really made a difference in our game was great passing, great communication among each other [and] helping each other out on defense and offense,” Villegas said.

Montano passed the ball on consecutive plays to Mosher and Farr to cut the lead to 7 points at 37-30. The Welch Group even had chances to cut the lead down even more, but missed passes to Rick Saunders down low resulted in Beach City Market maintaining a 39-30 lead.

The Welch Group did not give up so easily, however, and were on the offensive for the next several minutes. Beach City Market could not sink their shots and missed offensive rebound after rebound, leading to several scoring opportunities for The Welch Group to capitalize on.

Mosher proceeded to hit a layup, Saunders hit a free throw and Montano hit another jump shot to come within 4 points of tying the game at 39-35. That would be the closest they would get the rest of the game.

“I told the team that we needed to step it up a little bit more and we needed to stop their scorers and get back on track,” Villegas said.

Jones was fouled, and she hit both free throws to increase Beach City Market’s lead to 41-35. The Welch Group’s strategy to keep fouling Jones was not working, as she came through in the crunch with a 3-point play. Villegas then hit yet another shot under pressure for a 46-35 lead.

The Welch Group was not able to cut Beach City Market’s lead down to single digits for the rest of the game. Farr missed both free throws after being fouled, but Montano was able to connect on one more shot.

Culley and Villegas both finished the game as the offensive leaders for Beach City Market with 16 points each, while Jones added 11. Montano was the high scorer for The Welch Group with 14 points.

In other games played, Morgan Stanley clipped Urban Mo’s 43-36 during a tight contest. Paul Demke led Morgan Stanley with 18 points, while Brian Leigh scored 12 for Urban Mo’s.

AAA Mortgage Market swept 2200 Club 59-40 in another contest on Nov. 15. Larry Granville once again proved he is going to be an offensive leader in the league with an impressive 33 points to lead all scorers. Mario Leon led 2200 Club with 11 points.

Pecs played solidly to sweep Colorworks Painting 43-29. Chad Hermandorfer led Pecs with 18 points. Tom Nagashima scored 15 points for Colorworks.

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, there will be no games played until Wednesday, Nov. 29.

All games are played from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Joan Kroc Center, located at 6760 University Ave.

For more information about San Diego Hoops, visit their Web site at www.sdhoops.net.