New kids on the block New kids on the block (March 07, 2003)

Paly boys reach their first hoop finale since '96

by Keith Peters

The Palo Alto High boys' basketball team has to feel like a the new kid on the block this weekend when the Central Coast Section championships are held at Santa Clara University's Leavey Center.

In the Division IV girls' finals on Saturday at 10:30 a.m., No. 3-seeded Sacred Heart Prep (12-15) will be making its 15th straight appearance in the section title game when the Gators take on top-seeded Notre Dame-Salinas (26-2).

In the Division II girls' finals on Saturday at 6 p.m., top-seeded Pinewood (22-4) will be seeking its sixth straight CCS championship when the Panthers face No. 3 St. Francis (18-12).

In the Division V boys' finale today at 4:45 p.m., top-seeded Eastside Prep (25-1) will defend its championship while seeking a fourth CCS crown when the Panthers face No. 2 Redwood Christian (18-8).

And, in the Division V girls' title game today at 3 p.m., top-seeded Eastside Prep (17-6) returns to seek its first section crown against No. 2 Redwood Christian (16-9).

For the Palo Alto boys, they haven't been to the CCS finals since 1996. Previously, the team advanced to the finals in 1993 and later captured the state crown. While those are the only two appearances ever in the section finale for the Vikings, both trips produced championships.

That, perhaps, bodes well for the current squad that also qualified for next week's Northern California playoffs with a 58-45 win over No. 12 Woodside (14-14) on Wednesday night at Oak Grove High in San Jose. The CCS champ will host a first-round NorCal game on Tuesday while the section runnerup will travel.

For Paly coach Peter Diepenbrock, Saturday's section finale will be his first as the Vikings' head coach in his six-year tenure. He previously reached the finals while coaching at Pinewood.

"Hey, this is pretty exciting," he said following the less-than-artistic victory over a scrappy Woodside team.

With scoring leader Ryan Symes saddled with foul trouble and limited to just 15 points, Paly turned to is stingy defense and others for contributions.

"That was a real nice team effort to get it done," Diepenbrock said.

Palo Alto and Woodside met earlier this season with the Vikings pulling out a 75-71 homecourt victory as Symes scored 36 points, making 20 of 23 from the free-throw line. On Wednesday, Woodside dropped one of its defenders off the perimeter and had that player shadow Symes. The double-team worked in limiting Symes, but left other Vikings open.

Senior Kevin White knocked down a pair of treys and finished with 14 points, sophomore Brian Baskauskas added 11 and freshman point guard Jeremy Lin came off the bench for seven points and provided some solid ballhandling at crucial moments late in the game when Woodside crept to within 49-40 with 1:56 remaining.

At that point, the Wildcats were forced to foul and Paly went to the line for 12 attempts and made nine to wrap things up. Diepenbrock praised the defensive work of senior Nick Karvelas, who blanketed Woodside scoring leader Justonn Smith and held him to just 10 points.

The value of Symes' teammates was displayed when he took a third personal foul to the bench with 4:31 left in the third quarter. The Vikings led at that point, 36-16. When Symes returned with less than a minute remaining in the period, Woodside had been able to chip away just three points off that deficit.

At one point, Paly had two freshmen (Lin and Cooper Miller) and two sophomores (Baskauskas and Greg Walder) on the court.

In Saturday's title game, Paly will face an Aragon team that likes to run and gun. The Dons shot their way past Menlo-Atherton, 83-67, in the other Division II semifinal at Oak Grove High.

Menlo-Atherton (18-11) trailed throughout until clawing back to within 61-56 but Aragon went on an 18-1 run over the next three minutes to send the young Bears home a win short of qualifying for NorCals. It was M-A's third loss of the season to Aragon.

Palo Alto and Aragon met last season in the first round of the CCS tournament, with the Vikings running away with a 78-30 victory. Diepenbrock, however, says this Aragon team is completely different that last season's.

While Aragon was able to run against Menlo-Atherton, Diepenbrock believes his team's defense will be able to dictate the pace better on Saturday.

"We are a great defensive team," Diepenbrock said.

In other CCS semifinals Wednesday night:

The Sacred Heart Prep girls eliminated No. Menlo School (20-10), 33-30 at Salinas High in Division IV play while Castilleja (25-7) saw its season end in a 60-25 loss to Notre Dame-Salinas in the other D-4 semifinal.

In Division II girls' play, Pinewood bounced No. 5 Aragon, 79-38, behind a 24-point, 12-rebound effort from Katy Digovich and a fine 16-point, five-assist performance from Stacie Roshon.

Kiely Schork had eight points, nine assists and no turnovers from her point-guard spot and drew raves from coach Doc Scheppler for her playmaking and decision-making.

The Panthers used their vaunted press to squeeze Aragon out of the game, pulling out to a 42-15 halftime lead.

"Our pressure defense was terrific," Scheppler said. "We have to put that kind of pressure on St. Francis."

Scheppler voiced concern over the Lancers' height, that includes three 6-footers up front while the Panthers have no player taller than the 5-11 Digovich.

"They're huge," Scheppler said of St. Francis.

St. Francis, however, will have to move one of its tall player out on the perimeter to guard 5-10 Anna Tracy and the rest of Pinewood's three-point shooters. That should open up the inside more for Digovich. The Panthers also have that pressure defense to contend with.

"There are not too many teams that can handle our ball skills and pressure defense," Scheppler said.