By Brock Stafford | Sports-story writer

After a somewhat encouraging start to the 2016-17 prep (boys’) basketball season, the Bass Lake Canoes dropped a non-league home game Friday to Gaspump Valley, 53-46.

The G-Valley Bowsers entered the game on a 27-game losing streak, but finished the night quite differently.

Bass Lake bolted to a 17-10 first-quarter lead, fueled by a seven-point, three-assist, two-steal, one-rebound, no-foul effort from sophomore international transfer sensation Wheren Wen.

Then, the wheels fell off, like a rusted-out, unrestored 1958 Nash Metropolitan. Wen failed to score the rest of the night, causing fans to harass referees and the opponents’ cheerleaders.

The loss drops BLHS to 4-2.

On the heels of defeat, Bass Lake head coach Zeb Dreppelin cited non-selflessness as a key factor.

“We didn’t do a good job of sharing the basketball,” Dreppelin said. “Now, I’m gonna take my ball and go home.”

• Girls’ basketball: Young-Lady Canoes win in convincing fashion, donning new uniforms.

Partial box score: Bass Lake: Villy Villiams (15 points), Wheren Wen (7 points); Scooter Vespa (6 points); Dar S. Salaam (6 points); V. Gates (4 points); Malware Stevens (3 points; several boards); rest of team (remainder of points). Gaspump Valley: 53.

Bass Lake mayor Forrest Bunkard contributed a historic metaphor for this report.