Saratoga News Photograph by Kevin Sullivan Saratoga's Micah Weger, working the ball inside in an early season game, tossed in 43 points in two games, but the Falcons lost 65-53 to Mountain View in triple overtime, then dropped a tough 58-55 decision to Gunn. Panthers win in overtime But it was a tough week for Falcons By Dick Sparrer Things didn't look good for Prospect at halftime against Santa Teresa last week. The Panthers had fallen behind the Saints 16-9 in the first period and were down by 11 at the half, 26-15, in a game both teams needed in the race for one of the tops spots in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. But things started picking up for the Panthers in the third period. They got even better for Prospect in the fourth, and finally best of all in an extra period when the Panthers pulled out an exciting 59-56 overtime victory over the Saints. The win helped the Panthers improve to a solid 4-2 in the division while the Saints slipped to 3-3. Prospect is 14-5 for the year. Junior standout Thomas Turner had the hot hand for the Panthers in the victory with 22 points. Barry Sharpe had a couple of three-pointers among his 13 points, and veteran Gil Vasquez supported with 12 points. Jerome Ort chipped in with six points in in the win and Mike Senteio, Chris Hudson and Stephen Juran added two points each. Prospect fought back from the 11-point halftime deficit to outscore Santa Teresa 20-10 in the third quarter to pull to within a point at 36-35. The Panthers tied the game by topping the Saints 13-12 in the fourth, then won it by topping Santa Teresa 11-8 in the overtime period. Prospect returns to the floor this week after a Friday bye and faces a pair of key battles with Willow Glen and Mt. Pleasant. The Rams, 5-2 in the division, will host the Panthers on Feb. 2, 7 p.m. Prospedct hosts first-place Mt. Pleasant on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Tough week for 'Toga It was a tough week for the Saratoga boys basketball team. The Falcons lost 65-53 to Mountain View in triple overtime, then dropped a tough 58-55 decision to Gunn. The Spartans and Titans are the co-leaders in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. The Falcons battled from behind to tie Mountain View 39-39 in regulation. It was tied again after the first overtime, and still tied after a second overtime period. But the Spartans topped 'Toga 15-3 in the third extra stanza to pull out the victory. Geoff Lamotte led the Falcons with 19 points, and Micah Weger was close behind with 18. Lamotte hit a pair of three-pointers, and Weger buried two. Mike Crosby had a three among his seven points, Matt Garrapolo added four points, Spencer Jamison hit three points, and Bill Wallace popped two. The Falcons trailed 16-5 after a quarter, but battled back in the second to cut the Mountain View lead to five by intermission, 22-17. Saratoga outscored the Spartans 14-10 in the third to get to within one, then 8-7 in the fourth to send the game into overtime. Mountain View ended up pulling out the win in that third extra period. The Falcons, 3-4 in the division and 12-9 for the year, lost 58-55 to Gunn later in the week, despite taking a 12-point lead into the fourth quarter. Saratoga was up 15-12 at the first buzzer and held onto that three-point edge at the half, 31-28. The Falcons bombed the Titans 15-6 in the third to lead 46-34 heading into the fourth, but Gunn topped Saratoga 24-8 in that last quarter to claim the victory. Photograph by Kevin Sullivan Battling for the basketball in an early season game is Saratoga's Matt Garrapolo. The Falcons dropped two tough decisions in league games last week. Weger had the hot hand for the Falcons with 25 points, including three three-pointers. Lamotte added a three among his three field goals and finished with 13 points overall. Jamison added seven points, including a three, Wallace and Garrapolo popped four points apiece, and Crosby and Daniel Goñi had a point each. Westmont boys lose Daniel Sherburne, Kyle Collins, Erik Cisler and Navdeep Hundel each scored in double figures, but the Westmont boys dropped a 66-65 overtime heartbreaker to Del Mar last week. Sherburne led the Warriors with 14 points, and Collins canned 13. Cisler and Hundel dropped 11 points apiece, Vincent Chung hit nine, and Feras Elrayas added seven. Collins and Hundel popped two three-pointers each, and Chung and Elrayas had one apiece. Earlier in the week, Westmont lost 62-36 to Mt. Pleasant. The Warriors are now 1-6 in the division. Sherburne tossed in eight points for the Warriors in the loss, and Collins hit six. Hundel and Elrayas added five apiece, Cisler hit four, Dustin Wong had three, and Chung and Byung Park hit two each. Warriors split Alyssa Parsons tossed in 16 points, and Sheryl Mahaffey added 15 to lead the Westmont girls to a tight 43-42 Mt. Hamilton Division win over Del Mar last week. Stacey Simmons supported with 10 points for the Warriors, and Jenny Brown added two. Westmont, 3-4 in the division and 11-9 for the year, had opened the week by suffering a 59-47 loss to Leigh. Mahaffey had a big night for the Warriors with 29 points. She had three threes among her nine field goals, and she added eight points at the free-throw line. Victoria Sifuentez had six points, Parsons and Gina Kottikas four apiece, and Brown and Simmons two each. Falcons split, too Saratoga split in El Camino Division play last week, falling 50-45 to Gunn after edging Mountain View 37-36. The Falcons battled from behind to out-score the Spartans 12-8 in the final period pulling out the one-point win to open the week. Nicole LaMore buried 17 points, including a three-pointer, to lead the Falcons to the win. Nancy Fathali chipped in with eight points, Karen Bencala hit six, Karen Woo added four, and Stephanie Morrison popped two. Saratoga slipped to 4-4 in the division and to 9-8 for the year with the loss to powerful Gunn to finish the week. The Falcons were up by five at intermission, but the Titans bombed Saratoga 18-6 in the third to take control of the game. LaMore topped all Saratoga scorers with 16 points, including a pair of threes. Morrison joined her in double digits with 12 points, Bencala added nine, Fathali six and Woo two. So do Panthers Prospect lost 61-49 to Independence to open play last week, but the Panthers came back with a 46-41 win over Gunderson to improve to 3-5 in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL and to 5-12 overall. Vikings lose Over in the El Camino Division, the Lynbrook girls won twice last week, beating Los Altos 46-29 before edging Wilcox 41-34. The Vikings are now 3-5 in division play and 6-13 for the year. Julie Stevens tossed in 14 points, including two three-pointers, to lead the Vikings to the win over the Eagles. The Lynbrook boys lost twice in the De Anza Division, falling 66-38 to Los Altos and 79-48 to Gunn. Scott Stevens tossed in 11 points, including a three, to lead the Vikings in the battle with the Eagles. Dave Hsu added nine points, Jeff Cole hit six, Ryan Fujihara and Brandon Davis had four each, and Kenny Ewbank and Steve Zhao added two each. Lynbrook slipped to 0-7 with the loss to Wilcox. Stevens led the Vikings with 19 points, including three three-pointers. Hsu had two threes among his eight points, Davis hit a pair of threes to finish with six points, R. Fujihara and Cole added four each, Justin Fujihara hit a three, and Zhao had two. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, February 3, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.