The Cupertino Courier

Sports

Cupertino boys off to hot basketball start

By MIKE BARNHART

Despite the graduation of the three most productive players from last year's excellent squad, Cupertino's boys basketball team already has enjoyed as much success--pre-season success, that is.

Led by junior Eric Heslin and senior Ryan Matsuoka, the Pioneers won 13 of 15 pre-season games, including the championship of the Independence Tournament and second place in their own event, duplicating the feats of a year ago.

Coach Craig Ellegood's 2005-06 team kept rolling, though, claiming the championship in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League with an 11-1 record and winning a pair of CCS playoff games en route to a 25-4 season.

This season's squad, paced so far by the scoring of Heslin (about 17 points per game) and Matsuoka (10), now will face different challenges than the ones faced by the now-graduated big three of David Warren, Ehson Mortezaie and Jeremy Brinkerhoff. The Pioneers have moved up to the De Anza Division, along with Saratoga, and must face a stronger division schedule.

The Pioneers' first two tastes came last week. They opened with a 56-33 home victory over Los Gatos on Jan. 2, then tasted defeat 51-37 at Palo Alto three nights later.

Heslin, a 6-foot-4 forward, led the way against the Wildcats with 24 points, then put in a game-high 19 at Paly. Junior point guard Brian Ly (11 points) and 6-foot-4 senior center Kenji Mitchell (10) supported Heslin's performance in the win over Los Gatos. Matsuoka, a clever, 6-foot-1 player who plays both guard and forward, added seven points and 6-foot-5 junior Mike Carson rounded out the scoring with four.

Cupertino led by just one at halftime before outscoring Los Gatos by 10 points in the third period and pulling away in the fourth.

Heslin, Matsuoka and Mitchell all were key role players last season, and now are thrust into leadership roles this year. Other returnees include seniors Kevin Wu, David Goderidze, Ravi Agarwal and Greg Yokoshima. Newcomers include juniors Blake Warren, Sean Brinkerhoff, Carson, J.D. Deborba, Fred Khalkal and sophomore Kevin Lew.

After hosting Saratoga on Jan. 9, 'Tino was set to hit the road for Palo Alto again on Jan. 12, this time to play at Gunn.