December 23, 2005

Back to the table of Contents Page

Classifieds

Palo Alto Online

A tale of two hoop finishes

The Palo Alto and Gunn boys' basketball teams both went 3-1 in holiday tournaments that concluded on Wednesday. Both won their first games, but their finishing efforts were different.

Paly (10-1) found a way to force overtime and beat Bakersfield, 82-74, in the consolation finals of the Mission Prep Christmas Classic in San Luis Obispo. Gunn (8-5) lost an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter and suffered a frustrating 60-57 setback to Pioneer in the finals of the Fremont/Sunnyvale Holiday Tournament.

For the Vikings, they will take plenty of momentum into the St. Francis Tournament that begins next Wednesday. Paly opens against University (Irvine) at 4:30 p.m.

For the Titans, they now need to regroup before hosting Saratoga on Dec. 31 at 2 p.m. in their final tuneup before the SCVAL De Anza Division season begins in January.

The difference in the two outcomes was how each team handled defensive pressure. Paly did, Gunn did not.

"We handled the pressure most of the game," said Paly coach Peter Diepenbrock. "We just didn't rebound as well as we could have."

Paly found itself in a footrace with a very athletic Bakersfield team.

"We didn't have a difficult time scoring when we held on to the ball," Diepenbrock said.

Paly trailed by six entering the fourth quarter, but chipped away at its deficit and got it to three with about 25 seconds to play. The Vikings couldn't get a three-pointer off and Diepenbrock called time with five seconds to play. The ball was inbounded to senior guard Jeremy Lin, who drove and swung a pass to senior Steven Brown in the corner. Brown swished a three-pointer at the buzzer to force overtime, which the Vikings dominated.

"It really was our best game, even if we had lost," Diepenbrock said. "We did a lot of what we had been working on. We definitely took some steps forward."

Diepenbrock singled out seniors Brad Lehman (nine points) and Cooper Miller (a season-high 15 points) for their contributions. Both missed the first few games of the season while playing in the CCS football playoffs.

Lin and Brown had big games against Bakersfield. Lin produced a season-high 26 points (on 8 for 11 shooting) to go along with 10 assists, 14 rebounds and four steals. Brown added 20 points. The two combined for 24 points in a 57-42 third-round win over St. Joseph's (Santa Maria).

"It's a very competitive group," Diepenbrock said of his senior-laden squad. "A tough group to beat."

Gunn will have two opportunities to beat the Vikings when the De Anza Division season begins next month. The Titans, however, need to take care of the ball better than they did against Pioneer (12-1).

"We didn't handle the pressure well," said Gunn second-year coach Chris Redfield, whose team had an unofficial 21 turnovers. "It's certainly something we need to work on."

Despite having juniors David Riley and Peter Jordan saddled with foul trouble, Gunn battled from an early 25-15 deficit to grab a 48-42 lead when Riley hit a three-pointer with two seconds left in the third quarter.

Gunn stretched its lead to 57-49 when Jordan finished off a three-point play with 3:08 left to play in the game. At that point, Pioneer switched from a zone defense to a full court man-to-man defense. The Titans turned the ball over five times and failed to score while Pioneer went on an 11-0 run.

"We couldn't get into our offense the last three minutes," Redfield said. "Turnovers killed us in the last three minutes."

Pioneer took the lead at 58-57 on a three-pointer and Gunn turned the ball over with 37 seconds to play. Jordan committed his fifth foul with 15 seconds left and Pioneer converted for a 60-57 lead. Gunn had one final shot to tie, but Riley was pressured and traveled before getting a shot off.

Riley finished with 12 points and Jordan had 21, just off his season's average of 25.7. Both were named to the all-tournament team.

The loss, however, ruined what would have been an interesting bit of history for Gunn. The last time the Titans won this tournament was in the 1980-81 season when Kent Lockhart led the team into the CCS playoffs. Comparisons have been drawn between Lockhart and Jordan as well as both teams in this, the 25th anniversary of arguably Gunn's finest season in school history.

The comparisons have looked favorable, especially following Gunn's 56-52 win over Oak Grove in Tuesday's semifinals. The Titans had to rally from 11 down in the first half to pull out the triumph.

"The key was our third period," said Redfield. "We kept Oak Grove to six points and took them out of their rhythm."

Gunn outscored Oak Grove 12-6 in the third quarter and 27-20 in the second half. Jordan took over the game in the second half as he scored 20 of his game-high 28 points, including a clutch three-pointer with 25 seconds to play to break a 51-all tie.

"We turned it around in the second half," said Jordan. "We made the shots and defensive stops needed to win the game."

Had Gunn been able to do that Wednesday night, the Titans would have celebrated their second tournament title of the season.

Also in the Fremont/Sunnyvale tournament, Eastside Prep (6-7) got 22 points from Ramon Meacham but the Panthers suffered a 44-27 loss to Lynbrook and finished 12th in the 16-team tourney.

In the Private Schools Athletic League, Sacred Heart Prep improved to 2-0 in league (3-1 overall) with a 75-42 romp over visiting St. Lawrence. Eric Cowell led the Gators with 17 points while Michael McMahon added 14 points and Scott Cattaneo contributed 12.

In nonleague action, Woodside Priory (4-3) fell to visiting Stuart Hall, 65-50, despite 19 points from Reggie Willhite and 17 points from Hap Plain and Menlo-Atherton (5-4) dropped a 58-52 decision to host Mills. Steve Call led the Bears with 12 points.

Girls basketball

Palo Alto (9-3) tuned up for next week's West Coast Jamboree tournament with a pair of nonleague victories this week. The Vikings topped host Eastside Prep on Tuesday, 64-50, and rallied to beat visiting Mountain View, 54-49, on Wednesday in a game that originally was scheduled for Dec. 30.

Melody Gaal scored 17 points and freshman Rachael Pecota added 10 against Eastside Prep while Bre Clay led the way against Mountain View with 18 points, with Pecota adding another 10.

At the Nike Tournament of Champions tournament in Phoenix, Ariz., Pinewood (6-2) bounced back from a 59-40 opening-round loss to Campbell County to beat Ursuline of Marin County, 50-40, Tuesday.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.