Prep basketball teams use successful Prep basketball teams use successful (January 07, 2004)preseasons to vault into league play

by Keith Peters

The final tune-ups for the 2004 high school basketball season are complete and, for the most part, local coaches should feel pretty good with their teams.

Of the 18 boys' and girls' teams, 14 began this week with records of .500 or better. The top boys' teams at this juncture are Eastside Prep (14-1), Palo Alto (11-2), Menlo-Atherton (11-2), Sacred Heart Prep (8-2) and Gunn (9-5), while the Palo Alto girls (11-4), Castilleja (9-3) and Eastside Prep (8-2) top that group.

The Eastside Prep boys capped a busy week by winning the Head Royce Roundball Classic and then toppling host San Mateo in a nonleague game on New Year's Day, 53-41.

Keith Garner was named Most Valuable Player of the Head Royce event, where the Panthers defended their title with a 42-31 victory over fellow Division V power Branson. Gio Connor was named to the all-tournament team.

In the win over San Mateo, Garner and Connor combined for 20 points as the Panthers won their 11th straight game.

The Palo Alto boys, meanwhile, had their highs and lows last week during a second-place finish in the Soquel Winter Classic.

The highs included escaping from a 54-52 win over host Soquel in the first round and overcoming Santa Cruz in overtime, 48-46, in the semifinals. The lows arrived a night later following a 57-48 loss to Pioneer in the championship game.

"We were just a bit flat," said Paly coach Peter Diepenbrock. "And everything they (Pioneer) shot was going in. We just didn't play that well."

Or shoot that well. Normally a solid three-point shooting team, the Vikings made only seven of 26 attempts from beyond the arc as Pioneer played mainly zone.

Paly senior Oystein Aukland finished up a fine three-game tournament effort with 20 points and 13 rebounds against Pioneer. He also had 14 points against Soquel and 14 against Santa Cruz.

"He's definitely established himself," Diepenbrock said of his 6-foot-5 exchange student from Norway.

A night earlier, Paly used a miracle finish to rally past a tall and fairly talented Santa Cruz team that featured a frontline standing 6-foot-10, 6-8 and 6-7.

Santa Cruz was inbounding the ball holding a three-point lead with seven seconds remaining in regulation. A lob, however, was stolen by Paly's Cooper Miller, who quickly passed to Lorenzo Garcia and then back to Miller for a shot with three seconds to play. Miller, however, passed up the shot and whipped a pass crosscourt to Brian Baskauskas for the game-tying three-pointer.

In overtime, Paly sophomore Jeremy Lin made floater over Santa Cruz's 6-10 center for a one-point Vikings' lead and then took a charge on the same player to set up Aukland's clinching free throw to wrap up the victory.

"It was just a series of unbelievable plays," Diepenbrock said.

Baskauskas and Aukland both were named to the all-tournament team.

Sacred Heart Prep posted a 3-0 mark last week as senior Tyler Holland tossed in 71 points in the three victories. His best effort was 29 points in an 82-53 romp over Harker in a Private Schools Athletic League game. The win gave the Gators a 2-0 league mark heading into this week.

In other highlights:

Menlo-Atherton got 33 points from Dan Trautman as the Bears swept Wallenberg, 45-35, and Gunn, 53-43, in nonleague play. Blake Schultz tallied 20 points to spark Menlo (7-3) to a 40-35 nonleague win over San Jose High.
Girls basketball

Palo Alto (11-4) wrapped up its preseason schedule with a dominating 57-41 win over host St. Francis on Saturday night. The Vikings raced to a 9-0 lead and led by 31-17 at the half after forcing the Lancers into numerous turnovers.

Paly senior Sara Schulte capped a fine week that saw the Vikings win three times by tallying a game-high 24 points. She was a perfect 10 for 10 from the free-throw line. Senior guard Jossy Tseng added 14 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in addition to playing solidly on defense.

Elsewhere last week:

Emma Hoffacker was named MVP of the Seaside Tournament after scoring 12 points and sparking Sacred Heart Prep's defense in a 48-32 triumph over Madera in the championship game. Jessica Pecota joined Hoffacker on the all-tournament team.
Boys soccer

Menlo-Atherton (7-2) overcame the rain and St. Ignatius to post a big 2-0 nonleague victory last Friday. Senior Javier Hil scored both goals for the Bears, who'll take a 3-0 PAL Bay Division record into this week's home games against Hillsdale (Wednesday) and Burlingme (Friday, 3 p.m.).

E-mail a friend a link to this story.