By Dick Sparrer
Jim Marino was breathing a little easier. His Los Gatos basketball team was busy beating Santa Clara and Palo Alto in a couple of games in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic, and Marino had a chance to sit back, relax and enjoy them.
It's not that Marino didn't enjoy the games against Santa Clara and Paly on the first trip through the league schedule--after all, Gatos won them both. It's just that they won them both by one point in the final seconds.
So a 63-51 win over the Bruins and a 53-48 victory over the Vikings were a bit more relaxing for Marino and his Wildcats.
"We had a little more breathing room this time," he said.
The two wins helped the Cats improve to 8-1 in division play and to 19-3 for the year. But they still only leave Gatos with a one-game lead over Milpitas in the league standings, and the Cats will take on those Trojans this week.
"They're the only team to have beaten us [in league]," said Marino of Milpitas.
The Trojans will visit Los Gatos on Feb. 12, 7 p.m., in a key league game. A win for the Wildcats will clinch no worse than a title tie in the division, giving the Cats a two-game lead with just two games remaining against Los Altos and winless Gunn. But a loss to Milpitas throws the Cats and Trojans into a first-place tie.
Los Gatos maintained its one-game lead over Milpitas with the two wins last week, and it was a super week by senior sensation Brad Griffith that led the Cats to those two key victories.
Griffith scored 50 points and pulled 24 rebounds in the two games, including a career-high 33 points in the week-opening win over Santa Clara.
"He had a great game," said Marino of Griffith, who had 12 rebounds to go with his 33 points. "We started going to him a little more in the second half."
"We realized after the first half that we could turn it into a half-court game," said Marino, whose club had run with the speedy Bruins throughout most of the first half. "We started to go to our strength and size."
Los Gatos took control of the game by scoring 10 unanswered points in the third quarter.
A key to the game was holding Santa Clara's Division I-bound Tony Woodward to just 13 points. He had scored 45 points against the Cats the first time the two clubs met.
Court Showerman was guarding Woodward most of the night, but he had some help from Lee Mokri and Mike McSweeney.
"We zoned a lot and tried to be real conscious of where he was," Marino said of Woodward.
Griffith had a couple of three-pointers among his 12 field goals and added seven free throws to finish wtih 33 points. Dave Utt supported with nine points and six rebounds, and Mike Pugh had seven points, including a three.
Showerman finished with six points and a team-high eight assists. Mokri and McSweeney tossed in four points apiece.
Griffith came back with 17 points and 12 rebounds later in the week to lead the Cats to the 53-48 win over Palo Alto.
"It was a weird game," Marino said. "Palo Alto plays so physical."
"We had to adjust our offense," he added. "The kids did a great job of adjusting to their defense. It was a good hard-fought win for us."
Showerman supported with 11 points, nine of them at the free-throw line.
"He got fouled on some penetration," Marino said of Showerman, who hit nine of 12 at the line and led the club with five assists.
Pugh and McSweeney finished with nine points apiece, and each played key roles in the victory.
Pugh buried three three-pointers for the Cats, and one of them sparked Gatos to the win.
"He hit one key basket early in the fourth quarter," Marino said of Pugh. "It was tied 44-44, and he hit a three to put us up 47-44. They were never close after that."
McSweeney's effort also was important for Gatos.
"He came off the bench and really gave us a lift," Marino said of the 6-foot-1 junior guard.
Utt came through with seven points and seven boards for the winners.
McGowan stars
Guy McGowan scored 34 points in two games, but Leigh could manage just a split in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
McGowan, a 6-foot-2 junior forward, pumped in 19 points to lead the Longhorns to a 48-39 win over Gunderson.
Dan Ljepava supported with 12 points in the win. Greg Garrison added eight points in the win, Marcus Lua hit six and Scott Yamamoto had three.
The Longhorns were down by a point at intermission, 24-23, but outscored the Grizzlies 7-2 in the third and 18-13 in the fourth to win by nine.
McGowan came back with 15 points, but Leigh lost a 48-46 heartbreaker to Oak Grove. The Eagles improved to 8-1 in the division with the win, and Leigh slipped to 5-3 with the loss. The Longhorns are 13-9 for the year.
Ljepava tossed in a three on his way to nine points, and Lua had eight points for Leigh. Garrison and Todd Ishimatus supported with six points apiece.
After a 13-13 first period, Leigh fell back by nine at the half and still trailed by eight after three quarters. The Longhorns outscored Oak Grove 19-13 in the fourth, but came up two points short.
LG girls lose two
It was a tough week for the Los Gatos girls' basketball team.
The Wildcats were roughed up 53-27 by De Anza Division-leading Monta Vista, then lost a 55-46 decision to Palo Alto.
May Shishido tossed in three three-pointers among her six field goals to finish with a team-high 15 points in the loss to the Vikings.
Christina Cordes joined Shishido in double digits with 10 points, and Liz Coughran tossed in five. Deva Dawson, Moriko Yuki, Niki Bumbaca and Sam Sprogis scored four points each for the Cats. Yuki fired in a three-pointer.
Gatos actually led 12-9 after a period, but fell behind by three at the half, 26-23. The Cats were outscored by three in the third and three more in the fourth to lose by nine.
Earlier in the week, no Gatos player could score in twin figures in the loss to powerful Monta Vista. Shishido led the Cats with seven points and Bumbaca, Coughran and Cordes had five each. Coughran hit a three-pointer. Dawson and Sprogis rounded out the scoring with two points each.
Los Gatos also led this one after a period. But their 12-10 first-quarter lead disappeared quickly as the Matadors outscored the Cats 11-3 in the second, 15-7 in the third and 17-5 in the fourth.
Los Gatos has just one game this week. The Wildcats host Homestead on Feb. 11, 7 p.m.
This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, February 12, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.