Photograph by George Sakkestad
Los Gatos gets two points from Liz Coughran in a win over Lynbrook. Coughran tossed in 17 points for the Cats in the game, and she had 12 earlier in the week in a tough loss to Gunn.
By Dick Sparrer
The Golden State Warriors could have beaten Los Gatos. Maybe even Stanford.
But there were few area high school teams that could have beaten the Los Gatos boys' basketball team last Friday night--and certainly not Lynbrook.
Los Gatos dominated the Vikings 79-40 to run their record to 2-0 in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. And this was a Lynbrook team that Gatos coach Jim Marino thought was pretty good this season.
"I still think they're pretty good," he said. "But that night it would have been tough for us to lose to anybody. The kids came out ready to play."
How ready? Well, by the time the buzzer sounded to end the first quarter, the Wildcats had a 22-8 lead. They took a 36-13 lead in at intermission, and they outscored Lynbrook 20-10 in the third.
"We jumped on 'em early and stayed on top of 'em," Marino said. "They couldn't come back."
They couldn't come back because Brad Griffith, Court Showerman and the rest of the Wildcats wouldn't let them!
Griffith continued his outstanding play this season with 13 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
"He's a third-year starter, and he's so intelligent," Marino said of Griffith. "He knows what's going on all the time. He's our leader, no question about it."
But it was Showerman who led all scorers in this one, tossing in 16 points to go with his team-high seven assists.
"He's doing a great job for us, too," Marino said. "He's always a play ahead, recognizing defenses. He's taken a leadership role, too."
Mike Pugh continued his torrid shooting with four three-pointers on his way to 14 points. Dave Utt tossed in nine points, and Mike McSweeney had a three-pointer among his eight points.
Lee Mokri finished with six points, and Pat Barelmie added four. Collin Black, Aaron Jahn and Sky Swab hit two points each, and Pablo Viramontes and Parnell Pang had one apiece.
Los Gatos shot 55 percent from the field in the win.
The Wildcats, 2-0 in league and 13-2 for the year, had opened the week with a 68-46 win over Gunn in another hot-shooting night. The Cats hit 57 percent of their shots from the floor.
"We shot the ball very well," Marino said. "We shot well against Lynbrook, too. That's been helping us."
"But I really think it's been our defense generating our offense, which is not uncommon," said the coach. "We've been playing some good defense, and beating teams down the floor."
Griffith led the Cats with 18 points, 10 rebounds and four assists in the win. Utt finished with 12 points and six boards, and Pugh buried four more threes to wind up with 12 points.
Showerman hit a pair of threes on his way to nine points and he led the club with 10 assists. Mokri chipped in with six points, Steve Biderman hit four, and McSweeney buried a three.
Los Gatos will visit Santa Clara on Jan. 15, 7 p. m., and will host Palo Alto Jan. 17, 7:30 p.m., in a pair of key games.
"This is a big week," said Marino. "Santa Clara has four guys who will shoot the three-pointer, and they're pretty good--small and quick. And Palo Alto is always solid and well coached."
Gatos girls split
The Los Gatos girls, meanwhile, split in their first league games, beating Lynbrook 44-20 after losing 45-41 to Gunn.
Liz Coughran had the hot hand for the Wildcats in the win over the Vikings. The 5-foot-11 junior forward tossed in 17 points to lead the Cats to the victory.
Deva Dawson supported with eight points for the winners, and Christina Cordes hit five. Niki Bumbaca and Erin Cushing tossed in four points apiece, and Trina Mills, May Shishido and Amy Grabil added two points each.
Los Gatos, 1-1 in the De Anza Division of the SCVAL and 5-7 for the year, outscored Lynbrook in every period.
Earlier in the week, a fourth-quarter comeback fell four points short as the Wildcats lost to the Titans 45-41. The Cats outscored Gunn 23-15 in the final quarter only to come up short.
Coughran and Bumbaca shared game-high honors for Gatos with 12 points apiece. Cordes supported with eight points, Shisido had five and Grabil and Sam Sprogis hit two apiece. Bumbaca hit a pair of three-pointers, and Shishido added one.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, January 15, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved .