Los Gatos forward Dan Bittiker, driving to the hoop in an early season game against Branham, figured among the scorers in the Wildcats' 63-49 win over Monterey in the first round of the CCS playoffs. Gatos came back with a 51-49 overtime win over Homestead last Saturday to advance to the section semifinals against St. Francis.

Photograph by Tsutomu Fujita

Wildcats face Lancers in CCS basketball semi's

By Dick Sparrer

Jim Marino knew it going into the Central Coast Section playoffs. The road to the CCS Division II basketball championship travels through St. Francis.

Well, not literally--there will be no game this week at the school's Mountain View campus. But figuratively speaking, any team that hopes to win the CCS Division II crown has to knock off the top-seeded Lancers.

That's no small task, but it's the task the Los Gatos basketball team will face this week when the Wildcats challenge the Lancers on Feb. 27, at 8 p.m., at Bellarmine.

The game will be one of two semifinal matches on Wednesday at Bellarmine. Fremont and Palo Alto will meet at 6 p.m., followed by the LG-SF clash at 8 p.m. The winners will meet on March 2, at 8 p.m., at Santa Clara University's Leavey Center for the CCS Division II championship.

St. Francis, 20-8 for the year, is the No. 1 seed in the tournament, and Los Gatos, 15-13 overall, is seeded No. 5. Fremont (22-8) and Palo Alto (24-6) also figured among the top seeds, and both join Gatos in the rugged De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

"Three of the four teams in the semifinals are from our league," said Marino. "That proves that we have a pretty strong league."

Los Gatos ran into the champion of the SCVAL's El Camino Division last Saturday, and the Wildcats had to go into overtime to nail a 51-49 win over Homestead.

"That was one of those games that shouldn't have been as close as it was," admitted Marino. "We were seven for 19 at the free-throw line and we missed some layups. So we missed a lot of opportunities."

Those missed opportunities left the Cats down by three points heading into the final seconds of the game. But senior guard Jayson Furia picked a great time for his only bucket of the game, burying a three-pointer with 24 seconds left, to tie things 49-49 and send the game into overtime.

Los Gatos played solid defense in the extra period, but the Cats couldn't score against the Mustangs either. Ben Sandigo finally broke the 49-49 tie when he hit a five-foot baseline jumper with seven seconds left to play.

The Cats fouled the Mustangs with two seconds left in the overtime and Homestead went to the free-throw line with a chance to tie. But after a miss on the first charity try, Homestead called timeout.

"I think everyone in the gym probably knew that they would intentionally miss and try to put in the rebound," said Marino. But Sandigo foiled that strategy when he grabbed the missed free throw and Gatos had clinched the win.

Sandigo, Scott Holbert and Trent Edwards were scoring leaders for the Wildcats. Edwards topped the club with 12 points, including three three-pointers, and Sandigo and Holbert had 11 points apiece. Sandigo and Holbert also had 12 rebounds each.

"We did a great job of controlling the boards," said Marino, whose club pulled down 48 rebounds.

Edwards, Nik Kay and Chris McMorrow snapped six boards each for the Cats.

"[McMorrow] is back playing a pivotal role," said Marino of the 6-foot-5 senior forward, who missed much of the year with a knee injury. He had five points to go with his six boards.

Chris Clock finished with six points and three assists, and Furia had a team-high six assists to go with his three points. Kay added two points.

The Wildcats had opened the playoffs with a 63-49 win over Monterey on the Gatos floor.

"We were up on them early, but it was tied after three quarters," said Marino. "Then we just kind of exploded in the fourth quarter."

The Cats snapped the 45-45 tie and went on to outscore Monterey 18-4 in the final period.

"We got some turnovers, and we were able to score on some fast breaks," said Marino.

Edwards had another big night with nine rebounds and five assists to go with a team-high 20 points. He hit a pair of three-pointers.

Gatos girls split

The Los Gatos girls ended the season at 19-11 after a split in the CCS division II playoffs. The Wildcats opened with a 64-35 win over Westmont, but lost 55-34 to top seed Pinewood on Saturday.

The Cats dominated Westmont in the first round of the playoffs, outscoring the Warriors in every period on the way to the 29-point win.

Senior center Michelle Beritzhoff had the hot hand for the Wildcats with 25 points. The 6-footer tossed in 10 field goals and added five points at the free-throw line.

Freshman Alexa Anderson also finished in double figures with 11 points in the win.

Virginia Fritsch supported with nine points, Julia Pugliese had five and Jenny Dixon and Katie McClenathan hit two apiece.

Gatos ran into No. 1 seed Pinewood on Saturday, and the Cats lost 55-34. Pinewood is now 24-2 for the year.

Anderson had an impressive effort against the talented Pinewood crew. The 6-foot-1 freshman tossed in a team high 13 points, including a three-pointer.

Beritzhoff finished her high school career with a double-digit performance, canning 10 points for the Cats. McClenathan added four points, Pugliese three and Dixon and Marissa Nunn two each.

The Wildcats were up 11-10 at the first buzzer and trailed just 22-19 at the half. But Pinewood outscored the Cats 20-5 in the third quarter to take control of the game.

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