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Fremont second in Holiday Tournament
Homestead's Sasaki earns all-tourney spot
By DICK SPARRER
At halftime of the final game, it looked as though the Fremont boys basketball team just might win the championship in the tournament hosted by the Firebirds over winter break.
Even after three periods, things were looking pretty good for the Firebirds.
But as it turns out, it wasn't to be. Fremont was outscored 23-11 in the final period and ended up losing a 62-49 decision to Oak Grove in the championship game of the Fremont-Sunnyvale Holiday Tournament on the Saturday night before Christmas.
Things did look good for Fremont in the early going. The Firebirds led 9-6 after a period and took that three-point cushion to the locker room at intermission, leading 27-24.
Fremont trailed by just a point after three quarters, but the Firebirds lost it in the fourth when the Eagles came on strong to outscore them by 12 to clinch the 13-point victory.
Still, it was quite a showing for the boys from Sunnyvale. They won three straight games to gain a place in the finals, and their only loss came to an undefeated Oak Grove squad.
Jefferson edged Gunn 51-50 to finish third in the tourney and Homestead blasted Aragon 72-53 to claim the consolation championship.
Fremont's Jesse Enchill and Travis Harris capped the week by earning places on the all-tournament team. Homestead's Brad Sasaki also claimed a berth on the all-tourney list.
Fremont, now 10-3 for the year, opened the tournament with a convincing 60-45 win over James Lick, then beat Los Altos 62-48. The Firebirds came back with a tight 44-42 win over Gunn to advance to the finals.
Homestead lost its opener 60-50 to Mount Eden, but the Mustangs fought back to win three straight to snare the consolation crown. Homestead crushed Cupertino 66-27 and whipped Westmont 64-49 before beating Aragon in the consolation title game. The Mustangs are now 9-4 in the young season.
Sasaki poured in 71 points and popped 10 three-pointers in four games to lead Homestead to the consolation title in the tournament.
But Sasaki was just one of four Mustangs to score in double figures in the 72-53 win over Aragon that clinched the consolation crown. Bryan Silverman led the Mustangs with 19 points, including three three-pointers, and Gus Gauntlett drilled three threes on his way to 13 points in the Homestead win. Sasaki and Garren Strong supported with 12 points apiece for the Mustangs. Sasaki also hit three three-pointers for Homestead.
Homestead had lost 60-50 to Mt. Eden in a see-saw game in the tourney opener.
Sasaki was the big scorer for Homestead in the game. The 5-foot-10 senior guard tossed in 22 points, including three three-pointers. Strong supported with 12 points for the Mustangs, Gus Strombel had eight and Armen Ekmekji added five.
The Mustangs came back to blast Cupertino 66-27.
Strong was the big scorer for the Mustangs with 19 points, including a pair of threes, and Sasaki finished in twin figures with 11 points, including a three. Gauntlett had a couple of threes among his nine points.
Arlan Tokugawa had five points to lead the Pioneers.
Sasaki's biggest game of the tourney came in Homestead's 64-49 win over Westmont. The hot-shooting guard had three threes among his six field goals and added 11 points at the free-throw line to finish with a game-high 26.
Silverman supported with 12 points and Strong had 11, including a three. Strombel added six points in the win.
Lynbrook ended up sixth in the 16-team tournament, losing a tight 51-48 nod to Independence in the fifth-place game.
The Vikings opened the tourney with a 57-38 win over Silver Creek, but lost 58-46 to Jefferson a game later. Lynbrook fought back for a 52-41 win over Mount Eden to advance to the fifth-place game before losing to the 76ers.
Senior guard Ryan Fujihara had three three-pointers among his six field goals to finish with 15 points, but it wasn't enough for the Vikes against the Sixers.
Danny Wan added three threes to wind up with nine points and Jeff Chan tossed in seven points for Lynbrook, including a three.
The Vikings, now 6-6 for the year, earned the spot in the fifth-place game with the win over Mount Eden.
Brian Seip was the scoring leader for the Vikings with 16 points, including a three, and Sean Imai joined him in double figures with 12. Fujihara had a pair of threes among his eight points and Mike Fine added eight points.
Seip and Imai pitched in 13 points apiece and Fujihara added eight in the tourney-opening win over Silver Creek.
Fujihara had a big night with 22 points, including four three-pointers, but the Vikings lost 58-46 to Jefferson. Seip supported with eight points, including a three.
After losing to Homestead, Cupertino dropped a 49-28 decision to Oak Grove before beating Silver Creek 55-40.
Tokugawa pumped in 17 points and Joe Lordan added 14 to lead the Pioneers to the win over the Raiders.
Lordan had nine points to finish as the Cupertino scoring leader in the loss to Oak Grove. Assaf Pashut added seven points and Tokugawa had five.
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
