Basketball team to retire Todd Beamer's jersey

By Dick Sparrer

Todd M. Beamer inspired a nation with two simple words ... "Let's roll."

Beamer was a passenger on the fateful United Flight 93 that went down in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11. His words were followed by the actions of the passengers that apparently foiled the hijackers' attempts to crash the airliner into a high-profile area.

Beamer is a national hero, and he will be remembered this week on the basketball court, where he was something of a local hero just 15 years ago.

Beamer was an all-league player for the 1987 Los Gatos basketball team, and the Wildcats will retire his No. 25 jersey in a special ceremony prior to the Jan. 24 game against Lynbrook.

Members of the Beamer family will be on hand for the dedication ceremonies, which will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday. All proceeds from the evening's activities go to the Todd M. Beamer Scholarship Fund for Los Gatos High School basketball players.

Following the ceremonies, the Wildcats will tip off against Lynbrook in a key game for Gatos in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

The Cats lost twice last week to slip to 2-3 in division play and are looking for a couple of wins this week to get back on track. Gatos was to visit Wilcox on Jan. 22, 7 p.m., before hosting Lynbrook on Thursday.

Cats lose a pair

The Wildcats put together two solid performances last week, but lost 45-43 to Palo Alto and 54-43 to unbeaten Milpitas.

"We played two pretty good games against two pretty teams," said Gatos coach Jim Marino. "They were both pretty physical games."

The Wildcats had just five turnovers against the Trojans to open the week, and they jumped out to a quick 11-4 lead, but missed shots later in the game proved costly.

"We gave ourselves opportunities to win the game," he said. "We limited our turnovers, which is what we wanted to do. We just didn't finish our shots."

The Cats missed 12 shots within three feet of the hoop, which proved costly for Gatos.

Trent Edwards led the Wildcats with 12 points and Jayson Furia supported with 10. Edwards drilled a pair of three-pointers and Furia hit one.

Ben Sandigo supported with seven points, Chris Clock had six, Scott Holbert four and Nik Kay and Rory Bauer two apiece.

Holbert led the Cats on the boards with eight rebounds and Edwards had seven rebounds and three assists.

Furia had three assists to go with his 10 points in the game.

"That was good offensive output for him," said Marino.

Sandigo came back for his first start since suffering an ankle sprain a few weeks back, and he had five boards to go with his seven points.

"He made an impact," said Marino of Sandigo. "We really need him inside."

The Wildcats didn't do quite as well in the area of turnovers on Friday night against Palo Alto.

"We just turned the ball over too many times in the first half," said Marino, whose club committed 13 of their 16 turnovers in the first two quarters.

The Cats were down by 12 points at the half, but battled back to make a game of it. The Wildcats were down 43-40 late in the game, but missed a three-point attempt that would have tied it with 30 seconds left.

Paly came back to hit a couple of free throws to go up 45-40. Clock popped a three at the buzzer to make the final 45-43.

"In the second half, we played an outstanding game," said the coach. "We limited our turnovers and put ourselves into position to win the game."

Holbert was the scoring leader for the Cats with 18 points and Clock had three threes among his 15 points. Sandigo added six points and a team-high six rebounds, and Furia and Kay had two points apiece.

Edwards had four rebounds and three assists, but was held scoreless. Furia also had three assists.

Gatos girls split

The Los Gatos girls split a pair of De Anza Division decisions last week, falling 57-29 to unbeaten Palo Alto after beating Homestead 38-20.

Freshman Alexa Anderson pitched in 16 points and senior Michelle Beritzhoff tossed in 10 to lead the Wildcats to the 18-point win over the Mustangs.

Julia Pugliese and Jenny Dixon popped four points apiece and Carrie Awalt and Marissa Nunn had two each to round out the scoring for Los Gatos.

The Wildcats outscored the Mustangs in every period, including a 9-2 run in the final quarter that clinched the victory.

Things didn't go as well for the Cats later in the week against Paly. Gatos fell behind 19-8 after a quarter and could never make up the difference against the division leaders.

Anderson had nine points to lead all Gatos scorers and Nunn chipped in with eight. Pugliese, Katie McClenathan and Virginia Fritsch had three points each, Dixon hit two and Annie Green added one.

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