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Photograph by Paul Myers
Monta Vista senior guard Diana Chien fights for the basketball in an early season loss to Saratoga. The Matadors lost again to the Falcons last week to slip to 4-6 in the El Camino Division.
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Mustangs wrap up division title
Matador girls split in El Camino play
By DICK SPARRER
There are only two weeks remaining in the boys basketball season in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
But it shouldn't take that long before the league championship is decided.
And, barring some unforeseen circumstances, that champion will be Marc Cadet's Homestead Mustangs.
That's no prediction either... it's a cold, hard fact.
Homestead has a three-game lead with three games left to play in the division. And the Mustangs, who have already clinched no worse than a title tie, can clinch the championship with a win in any of the three games.
Homestead snagged a piece of that title with two wins last week, beating Mountain View 50-37 and Santa Clara 49-30.
The Mustangs are now 9-0 in league play, 19-4 for the year, and their nearest rival, Saratoga, sits three games back in the loss column.
The Falcons, 5-3 in the division, will host the Mustangs on Feb. 5, at 7 p.m. A Homestead victory would put a quick end to the league race.
Homestead will finish off the regular season at home against Cupertino on Feb, 7, at at 7 p.m., against Milpitas in a non-league game on Feb. 13, 7 p.m., and against Monta Vista on Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m.
It was the 49-30 win over Santa Clara last Friday night that iced no worse than a title tie for the Mustangs.
Brad Sasaki had a big night for the Mustangs with 18 points. The senior had a pair of three-pointers among his six field goals and he added four points at the free-throw line.
Garren Strong supported with nine points in the win and Gus Gauntlett added seven. They each popped a three.
Tim Strombel fired in six points for the Mustangs, Matt Johnson had five and Armen Ekmekji and Bryan Silverman added two each.
Homestead opened up a 17-2 lead after a period and never looked back on the road to the title-clinching win.
Earlier in the week, Sasaki had 28 points to lead the Mustangs to a 50-37 win over Mountain View.
Homestead trailed 10-2 early in the game and led by just a point at intermission, 20-19, but the Mustangs caught fire in the third quarter to outscore the Spartans 19-8 and take control of the game. Sasaki hit four of his school-record seven three-pointers in the third period to help the Mustangs build a 12-point lead to take into the final quarter.
Strong finished in double digits with 10 points for the Mustangs. Silverman added six points, and Strombel, Johnson and Randy Chang had two each.
A week earlier, the Mustangs had pulled out a tight 60-54 win over Los Altos. Strong finished 22 points to lead Homestead and Sasaki added 15 points, including a three.
Gauntlett had a three among his seven points. Strombel and Silverman finished with five points apiece, Johnson had four and Ekmekji added two.
Pioneers split
In other El Camino Division games last week, Cupertino split a pair, beating Monta Vista 52-33 but losing 41-32 to Los Altos.
Joe Lordan pitched in 19 points and Kevin Ravadge added 16 to lead the Pioneers to the win over the Matadors. Arlan Tokugawa hit a pair of threes among his eight points.
Lordan and Ravadge had 12 points apiece for the Pioneers in the 41-32 loss to the Eagles.
Lady Mustangs lose
The Homestead girls, meanwhile, dropped a 48-36 nod to first-place Palo Alto last week in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL. Junior Elyse Maru and sophomore Jenelle Kitasoe popped eight points apiece to lead the Mustangs.
Lauren Tidwell and soph Mandy Wald tossed in six points each and Shannon Wong had a three among her five points. Stephanie Malcolm also hit a three.
The Mustangs will look to get back on the winning track this week when they visit Los Gatos on Feb. 6, at 7 p.m., and host Fremont on Feb. 8, at 7:30 p.m.
Mat girls win, lose
The Monta Vista girls opened play last week with a 47-34 win over Lynbrook, but the Matadors lost 50-36 to Saratoga a couple of days later in El Camino play.
Sophomore guard Melanie Wen jammed a team-high 16 points, including three three-pointers, and Deanna Sainten added 11 points to lead the Mats to the win over the Vikings.
Rekha Arakeri supported with nine points in the win, Dana Underwood had five, Diana Chien hit four and Ani Bagdasarian added two.
The two clubs were locked in a 9-9 tie after a period, but the Matadors pulled away by two in the second, four more in the third and finally by seven in the fourth to win by 13.
The Matadors were up by a point after a quarter, then down by a point at the half against Saratoga later in the week. The Falcons went on to outscore the Mats by four in the third and nine in the fourth to cruise to the win.
Sainten led the Matadors with nine points and Arakeri added eight, including a three-pointer. Wen had a three and three free-throws to finish with six points.
Underwood and Bagdasarian tossed in four points apiece, Marissa Cerros and Julia Bonin had two each and Chien added one.
In other games in the division, Lynbrook rolled to a 49-16 win over Cupertino, and the Pioneers dropped a 44-26 decision to Wilcox.
Milpitas currently leads the division with a 10-0 record and Saratoga sits in second at 8-2. Mountain View (7-3) is third, followed by Lynbrook (6-4) and Monta Vista (4-6).
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
