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Saratoga's Mark Elfving, muscling up a shot in a win over Homestead, tossed in 13 points to help the Falcons to a 63-52 win over Mountain View last Thursday night.
Photograph by George Sakkestad
Falcons beat Mustangs, clinch 2nd
Saratoga girls knock off 1st-place Trojans
By Dick Sparrer
Saratoga wasn't going to win the boys basketball championship in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League last week--that distinction went to Homestead.
But the Falcons could make winning that championship a little less comfortable for the Mustangs. And that's just what they did last Tuesday night.
Homestead came into Saratoga early last week bent on clinching the division crown and continuing its winning ways in the league race. But Saratoga handed the Mustangs their first loss of the El Camino season with an impressive effort.
The Falcons outscored the Mustangs in every period on the way to a 53-42 victory. The loss stopped a nine-game win string for the Mustangs in division play.
Homestead went on to clinch the El Camino crown later in the week with a 51-32 win over Cupertino. But the Mustangs weren't going to celebrate that championship at Saratoga--the Falcons saw to that on Tuesday night.
Senior guard Justin Zebb threw in 17 points and Eric Lee added 11 to lead the Falcons to the upset win over the Mustangs.
Zebb had a pair of threes among his six field goals and he added three points at the free-throw line to lead all scorers in the game with his 17.
Lee did most of his damage at the charity line. The 6-foot-1 senior forward hit two buckets from the field and added seven points from the line to finish with 11 points for the night.
Chris Barrett supported with eight points and Matt Ashburn had a three among his seven points. Mark Elfving chipped in with six points and Lawrence Hui hit four for the winners.
Saratoga jumped on top 16-11 after a period and 22-15 at the half, but the Mustangs pulled to within three points in the third quarter. That was as close as Homestead could get, though, and the Falcons went on to claim the 11-point win.
The Falcons, 14-11 for the year and 7-3 in the division, came back later in the week with a solid 63-52 win over Mountain View.
It was Ashburn who had the hot hand in this one for Saratoga. The junior guard pumped in a game-high 18 points, including four three-pointers. He added eight points at the free-throw line.
Elfving joined Ashburn in double digits with 13 points, including five points at the line.
Hui supported with nine points, Lee had seven, Zebb and Barrett five apiece, Frank Wallace four and Aron Mitsunaga two.
Saratoga actually had a big night at the charity line, throwing in 17 free throws in the line. Ashburn and Elfving combined for 11 of those points.
The Falcons opened up a 16-12 lead in the first period and stretched their lead to 32-22 by intermission. The Spartans came fighting back in the third quarter to cut the lead to four at 38-34, but the Falcons blitzed Mountain View 25-18 in the fourth to pull away for the win.
Saratoga will put the finishing touches on a second-place finish in the division this week when the Falcons close out the regular season at home against Los Altos on Feb. 13, at 7 p.m., and at Cupertino on Feb. 15, at 6:30 p.m. Saratoga clinched second with the win over Mountain View last Thursday.
Current El Camino Division boys standings are: Homestead 10-1, Saratoga 7-3, Los Altos 6-5, Cupertino 4-6, Santa Clara 4-6, Mountain View 3-7, Monta Vista 2-8.
Falcon girls split
It was a similar week for the Saratoga girls basketball team, but hanging onto sole ownership of second place in the El Camino Division wasn't the outcome.
The Falcons opened the week much like the boys, upsetting division champion Milpitas to hand the Trojans their first loss of the league season.
But the Saratoga girls lost a tough 51-23 decision to Mountain View later in the week to slip into a tie for second place with the Spartans.
Saratoga could clinch no worse than a share of that No. 2 spot in the circuit with a couple of wins this week. The Falcons will host Wilcox on Feb. 12 and visit Cupertino on Feb. 14 for the final two games of the regular season.
Last week started out great for the Falcons. Tiffany Tan, Bryte Nielsen and Julia Anderson combined for 50 points to lead Saratoga to a thrilling 68-61 overtime win over the Trojans.
Tan and Anderson shared team-high honors for the Falcons with 17 points apiece. Tan, a sophomore, had a pair of threes among her six field goals and she added three free throws to finish with 17. Anderson, a freshman, buried six buckets from the field and hit five from the free-throw line to wind up with 17.
Nielsen, also a freshman, was close behind her teammates with 16 points in the win. Soph Victoria Liu joined the others in double digits with 11 points, including a three.
Katie Levinson tossed in four points in the Saratoga win and Jordan Henry added three points.
The Falcons opened up a 17-6 lead in the first period and held a 30-24 lead at intermission. Milpitas chipped away by three points in the third and three more in the fourth to tie it 55-55 at the end of regulation, but Saratoga topped the Trojans 13-6 in overtime to clinch the win.
But the Falcons, 14-7 for the year and 9-3 in league play, had little left for Mountain View a couple of nights later. The Spartans held Saratoga to single digits in each of the four quarters on the way to a 51-23 victory.
Nielsen led the Falcons with six points and Liu, Anderson and Judy Wang had four each. Tan and Sarah Yee added two apiece and Henry hit one.
Current El Camino Division girls standings are: Milpitas 11-1, Saratoga 9-3, Mountain View 9-3, Lynbrook 6-5, Monta Vista 6-6, Wilcox 3-8, Santa Clara 3-9, Cupertino 0-12.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
