Saratoga News Photograph by Skye Dunlap Saratoga's Micah Weger (25) works against Prospect's Mike Senteio (20) in the first round of the Saratoga Shootout. Prospect beat Saratoga 55-50 and went on to win the tournament championship. The Falcons took the consolation crown. Both Weger and Senteio were named to the all-tournament team. Prospect wins Shootout Falcons battle back to claim consolation crown By Dick Sparrer Both Homestead and Prospect opened the Saratoga Shootout boys basketball tournament with a couple of close victories. But when they met in the Shootout finals on Saturday night, they played the closest game of them all. The Panthers pulled out a 58-56 overtime win over the Mustangs to win the Saratoga Shootout championship. The clubs had finished regulation locked in a 53-53 tie, but Prospect edged Homestead 5-3 in the extra period to win it all. Monta Vista beat Pioneer 49-42 in the third-place game earlier in the night, and host Saratoga handled Menlo 58-45 to win the consolation championship. Prospect's Barry Sharpe was named the tournament's most valuable player after pumping in 46 points in three games to lead the Panthers to the crown. He was joined on the all-tourney squad by teammates Mike Senteio and Thomas Turner. Homestead's Dat Lai and Matt Hovik won all-tournament team honors along with Chris Chalfant of Monta Vista and Micah Weger and Geoff Lamotte of Saratoga. Sharpe buried 17 points, including three three-pointers, to lead Prospect to the tight 58-56 overtime win over Homestead in the finals. Turner shared game-high honors with 17 points for the Panthers. He also hit a three. Jerome Ort popped eight points for the champs and Devon Jackson added five. Senteio, Gil Vasquez and Stephen Juran had three points each and Kelly Stephens added one. Lai was the scoring leader for the Mustangs with 16 points, including a three. Hovik hit three three-pointers on his way to 13 points, and Steve Lambert also had 13 points. A.J. Peper supported with five points, Matt Hoffman hit a three, and Max McKay, Arash Kiadeh and Joe Whiteman had two points each. The Mustangs opened up what appeared to be a commanding 19-7 lead in the first period of the title game, but Prospect chipped away at the 12-point lead by six in the second (18-12), four in the third (15-11) and two in the fourth (13-11) to tie it in regulation. The Panthers, now 7-3 for the year, opened the tourney with a tight 55-50 win over Saratoga. The clubs were tied 39-39 after three period, but Prospect topped 'Toga 16-11 in the final quarter to pull out the win. Sharpe had a three among his 18 points to lead the Panthers. Turner tossed in 11 points, Jackson eight, Bryan Spratling seven, Ort five and Juran and Vasquez three apiece. Turner, Spratling and Juran each popped three-pointers. Weger led all scorers in the game with 27 points for the Falcons. The junior guard drilled a couple of threes. Lamotte had a three among his seven points. Matt Garrapolo and Spencer Jamison had five points apiece, and Mike Crosby hit four. Prospect came back a game later with a 43-32 win over Pioneer. Sharpe had 11 points, including a three, to lead the Panthers. Senteio and Jackson hit seven points apiece, Vasquez and Turner popped six each, Ort had four, and Spratling dropped two. Senteio added a three. Bryce Hall led the Mustangs with 11 points, and Kevin Mack had nine, including a three-pointer. Homestead, now 3-6 for the year, opened the tourney with a 41-36 win over Lincoln. Trenton Hill led the Mustangs with 10 points and Jim Kiel added seven, including a three. Hoffmann finished with six points, Keith Morikawa had five, McKay four, Hovik three, Lambert, Peperand Whiteman two each and Matt Root one. Hoffmann, Hovik and Morikawa each hit three-pointers. Homestead advanced to the tourney finals with a close 37-34 win over Monta Vista. The Mustangs led 16-4 after a period, but held on in the fourth as Monta Vista closed the lead to just three points. Hovik had the hot hands for the Mustangs with 23 points, including five three-point buckets. Lai supported with nine points, Lambert with five, Hill four and Peper two. Chalfant and Ajay Nagdev led the Matadors with eight points apiece. Maz Astar chipped in with six, Kevin Coolidge had five, Allen Lin four and Kenneth Mah three. Monta Vista, 6-7 this season, battled back with a 49-42 win over Pioneer to clinch third-place in the Shootout. Mah led the Mats with 10 points, and Chalfant pitched in nine. Daniel Shnapek hit eight points, Coolidge seven, Nagdev five, Astar and Phil Bonin three apiece and Nick Jackson and Lin two each. Mike Nakamura led the Mustangs with 11 points Louis Carter added 10. The Matadors had opened the tourney with a hard-earned 39-33 win over Menlo. Coolidge led the Mats with 11 point and Mah jammed nine. Lin had seven points, Astar five, Bonin four, Hilbert Kwan three and Chalfant two. Astar and Kwan each hit three-pointers. Saratoga, meanwhile, fought back from its tourney-opening loss to ultimate champ Prospect to win two straight and claim the consolation championship. The Falcons, 8-3 for the year, beat St. Lawrence 66-42, then whipped Menlo 58-45. Lamotte bombed four three-pointers on his way to a 22-point night, and Weger supported with 14 points in the win over Menlo in the consolation finals. Crosby had a three among his six points, Garrapolo and Jamison had four points apiece, and Bill Wallace, Robert Kim, Scott Snider and Dañiel Goni added two each. The Falcons jumped out to a 17-4 lead in the first period and outscored Menlo 15-6 in the third on the road to the easy win. A game earlier, Saratoga pounded St. Lawrence 66-42 . Lamotte had 14 points, and Weger added 11 in the win. Both canned a pair of threes. Jamison joined the two in double digits with 10 points. Crosby had nine, Wallace seven, Garropolo six, Snider four, Max Sandigo and Kim two each and Goñi one. In other games in the tournament, Pioneer opened with a 50-45 win over St. Lawrence. Mack had 14 points, including three three-pointers, and Kevin Gray added 10. Menlo knocked off Lincoln 52-38 in a consolation bracket game. Warriors fall The Westmont boys dropped a 73-46 nonleague decision to unbeaten Leigh last week. Daniel Sherburne had a big night for the Warriors, pouring in 20 points. Navdeep Hundel and Vincent Chung supported with seven points apiece, Feras Elrayas added five, Erik Cisler hit four, and Kyle Collins buried three free throws. Hundel and Elrayas each popped three-pointers. Shirakawa Classic The Westmont and Saratoga girls basketball teams are the midst of competition in the Shirakawa Classic tournament at Yerba Buena. The Warriors opened the tournament with back-to-back wins to move into the championship round, and Saratoga split its first two games of the tourney. Westmont, now 5-3, whipped James Lick 52-45 in the first round of the tournament. Sheryl Mahaffey poured in 21 points, including three three-pointers, to lead the Warriors to the win. Zuleeka Mohamed joined Mafaffey in twin figures with 12 points. Alyssa Parsons popped eight points for Westmont and Kim Castillo dropped a pair of threes to finish with six. Stacey Simmons had four points, and Jenny Brown added one. The Warriors opened up a commanding 26-13 lead in the first period and outscored Lick 16-6 in the third on the road to the seven-point win. A game later, the Warriors nailed a tight 43-40 win over Notre Dame of San Jose. Mahaffey had another big night, pumping in five threes on her way to 22 points. Simmons finished with eight points, Parsons had six, Castillo four and Brown, Jennifer Payne and Victoria Sifuentez one each. The Warriors led by just a point at the half, but opened up a seven-point lead by outscoring Notre Dame 8-2 in the third. They held on to win by three. Saratoga started the tournament with a 46-39 win over host Yerba Buena. Nancy Fathali poured in a team-high 18 points to lead the Falcons, and Anna Wang supported with 11 points. The Falcons slipped to 5-4 for the year a game later, dropping a 47-23 nod to Hollister. Nicole LaMore had nine points to lead all Saratoga scorers. Falcons, Warriors win Earlier in the week, the Saratoga girls pulled out a tough 38-32 nonleague win over Fremont. LaMore poured in 15 points to lead the Falcons to the victory. Karin Bencala joined her in double figures with 11 points and Fathali added six points. Westmont, meanwhile, opened the week with a 47-42 win over Independence in a nonleague game. Parsons had the hot hand for the Warriors with 19 points. Simmons supported with 10, Mahaffey had six, Mohamed five, Castillo four and Sifuentez three. Panthers win, lose two The Prospect girls opened the week with a 40-31 win over Silver Creek, but the Panthers lost a pair of one-point heartbreakers later in the week. The Panthers broke a 19-19 halftime tie by outscoring the Raiders 12-9 in the third and 9-3 in the fourth to pull out a 40-31 win over Silver Creek. Prospect lost a tough 35-34 nod to Del Mar a few days later, then wrapped up the week with a disappointing 32-31 loss to Leigh. [ Back to Contents Page | Saratoga News Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Saratoga News, December 23, 1998. ©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.