Saratoga News

Westmont advances to CCS title game

By Dick Sparrer

The Warriors were going to be good, and veteran head Gary Brinck has been around long enough to know.

But how good would the Westmont boys' basketball team be in 1995? Even 30 years of coaching experience couldn't give Brinck the answer to that one.

Were the Warriors good enough to win the title in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League? Were they good enough to win a Central Coast Section crown?

Brinck hoped they were, but he couldn't be sure.

"We have a team with a lot of experience," he said in the preseason. "We have size and adequate guards. If we can improve our defensive game, we could be a contender."

Well, the Warriors must have improved more than even Brinck could have hoped. Because they were not just contenders in the 1995 season, they were league champions and finalists in the Central Coast Section Division III tournament.

Westmont backed up a Santa Teresa Division championship season by playing its way into the CCS finals against powerful Palo Alto, champs of the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

The Warriors turned back oldtime rival Los Gatos 61-56 to earn the spot in the finals, then dropped a tough 38-28 nod to Paly in the finals to settle for a CCS second.

But it's not over yet for Westmont. The Warriors will take their 25-3 season record on to the Northern California tournament.

Westmont won its spot in the CCS finals with the impressive come-from-behind win over the Wildcats last week.

The Warriors were down by five heading into the final period, but they exploded for 22 points in the fourth quarter and held Gatos to just 12 to pull out the five-point win.

Matt Tait fired in 20 points and David Newberg tossed in 19 to lead the Warriors to the win over the Cats. Lee Reyes hit a couple of three-pointers on his way to 12 points to join the two in double figures.