Saratoga News

Falcons nail two exciting wins

By Dick Sparrer

It took a while, but the Saratoga boys' basketball team won a pair of league games last week. And the Falcons did it in memorable fashion.

Saratoga opened the week with a tight 48-45 win over Homestead, then battled back with a thrilling 49-48 overtime victory over Fremont.

In each game, the Falcons found themselves locked in a tie after three periods. And each time, Saratoga came on strong for the victory.

Saratoga and Homestead were tied 34-34 after three quarters before the Falcons outscored the Mustangs 14-11 in the final period to pull out the win.

Tom Calderon tossed in 17 points and Luke Weger added 13 to lead the Falcons to the exciting win. Calderon and Weger each had three three-pointers in the win.

Brennan Carroll supported with eight points for Saratoga, and Mike Black had six. Cory Schwaderer finished with two points, and Mark Marshall and Jason Ng had one each.

The Falcons opened up a 13-9 lead in the first period, but Homestead topped Saratoga 13-9 in the second to tie the game 22-22 at the half. The clubs hit matching 12s in the third quarter, but the Falcons broke the tie in the fourth by outscoring Homestead by three.

Saratoga, now 2-5 in the division and 4-15 for the year, came back to upset Fremont later in the week.

Fremont entered the game contending for the division lead with a 4-2 record, but the Falcons dropped the Firebirds from the leader list with the overtime win.

The Falcons went up 18-14 in the first and led by a point at intermission, 24-23. Fremont tied it 32-32 by the end of the third, then the clubs matched 10 points in the fourth. Saratoga took the slim edge in the overtime period 7-6 to win by one.

Black pumped in 16 points to lead all Falcons. Carroll chipped in with nine points and Calderon added seven. Schwaderer and Ryan Anderson hit six points apiece, Weger had three and Ng popped one. Weger and Anderson each canned three-pointers.

Saratoga will try to maintain its winning ways this week. The Falcons hit the road to visit Cupertino on Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m.

Panthers top Warriors

Uriah Bojorquez tossed in 19 points and Vince Corcoran added 16 to lead the Prospect boys' basketball team to a 58-46 win over Westmont.

The Panthers improved their record to 4-3 in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League with the win. The Warriors slipped to 3-4.

Aaron Harmon tossed in eight points for Prospect in the win over Westmont. Aaron Winters added five points, Scott Yi had four and Eric Ostgarden and Brandon Morgan hit three apiece. Bojorquez, Winters and Ostgarden each hit three-pointers for the Panthers.

Nick Boldrey led all scorers for the Warriors with 16 points. Nate Thomforde finished with nine points, including a three-pointer, and Zach Felder and Mike Shin added six points apiece.

The Panthers jumped on top by five in the first period and led by 12 at intermission, 30-18. Westmont cut the lead by five in the third, but the Panthers got the five points back in the fourth to win by 12.

Prospect, 12-8 for the year, will host Del Mar on Feb. 4, 7 p.m., before visiting Pioneer on Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m.

Westmont, meanwhile, will take its 8-11 season record to Del Mar on Feb. 7, 7:30 p.m., for its only game of the week.

The Warriors lost 54-43 to first-place Piedmont Hills to open play last week.

The Pirates jumped on the Warriors 18-12 in the first quarter, but Westmont battled back to top Piedmont 9-3 in the second to tie it at the half, 21-21. The Bucs dominated the third 18-6, though, to pull out the win.

Thomforde led Westmont with 12 points and Boldrey supported with 10. Shin had a three-pointer among his seven points, and Felder finished with six points.

Warriors winning

The Westmont girls have been winning this winter, and they continued their winning ways last week with a pair of victories.

The Warriors whipped Del Mar 56-39 to open the week, and they came back with a rousing 48-14 win over Pioneer two days later.

Westmont is now 8-0 in the Santa Teresa Division of the BVAL.

Kim Mahaffey had the hot hand for the Warriors in the win over the Dons. Mahaffey had three three-pointers among her eight field goals to finish with 19 points in the win.

Lauren Costanzo ended up in double digits with 12 points, including a pair of threes. Tiffary Reiblein added eight points, and Melissa Taylor hit seven.

Mahaffey tossed in 12 points, including three threes, and Reiblein hit nine in the easy win over Pioneer.

Prospect slipped to 2-5 in the division and 9-10 for the year after losing 47-38 to Santa Teresa and 41-35 to Presentation last week.

Lyndsey Najima tossed in a couple of threes among her six field goals, and she added four points at the line to finish with 18 in the loss to Presentation.

Jennifer Sitter chipped in with eight points, Adela Sojtaric added four, Elizabeth Harkins had three and Heather Winkleman scored two.

Saratoga girls split

The Saratoga girls' basketball team opened play last week with a 53-39 win over Milpitas, but finished with a heartbreaking 46-45 loss to Los Altos.

The Falcons, now 5-3 in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL and 11-6 for the year, let an 18-point halftime lead get away against the Eagles.

Allison Zisko led the Falcons with 14 points and Nancy Fathali chipped in with 12, including a pair of three-pointers. Clancy Roberts had seven points, Sarah Ruby six, Robyn Katzman four and Andrea Lo two.

Zisko's 20-point performance sparked the Falcons to the win over Milpitas. Fathali came through with 12 points and a couple of three-pointers. Ruby added eight points in the win, and Roberts had four. Katzman, Karin Bencala, Amy Woo and Jill Moon had two points each, and Lo added one.