But that's not how things ended up.

The Panthers outscored the Dons by five points in the final period last Tuesday to pull out a 65-58 victory in the league opener for each club.

Kyle Bonvechio pumped in 19 points and Andrew Garduque poured in 13 to lead Prospect to the hard-earned win. The two Panthers tossed in three three-point buckets apiece in the game.

Ryan Najima joined the two in double digits for the Panthers with 10 points, and Steven Vidal was close behind with nine points. Fermen Smith added eight points, Greg Hawkins hit four and Luis Arellano had two.

Marc Steeves and Steve Somerville led the Del Mar efforts with 16 points apiece, and Mike Rathburn chipped in with 12. Steeves and Rathburn each had three-pointers.

The Panthers opened up an early 19-12 first-quarter lead, but the Dons battled back. They chipped away four points of that cushion to trail just 26-23 at the half, then cut another point off the lead to trail just 42-40 after three periods.

But Prospect outpointed Del Mar 23-18 in the final quarter to clinch the victory.

Prospect improved to 5-9 for the year with the win.


Westmont splits

In other action in the division, Westmont split last week, beating Overfelt 60-36 before losing 43-37 to Leland. The Warriors are now 13-4 overall this year.

Michael Bottenberg fired in 16 points, including a three, to lead Westmont to the win over the Royals. Joel Lopez canned three three-pointers on his way to an 11-point night for the Warriors.

Allen Iida chipped in with nine points, Danny Sisemore had eight, John Baumgardner seven, Michael Johnson four, Josh Meinhold three and Mike Gorski two. Iida, Meinhold and Baumgardner each dropped threes.

Westmont couldn't overcome a third-quarter blitz by Leland a few days later, though, and dropped a 43-37 league decision to the Chargers.

The Warriors trailed by just three at intermission, 19-16, but they were outscored 18-9 in the third. Westmont cut the lead in the fourth, but ended up losing by six.

Sisemore led the Warriors with 15 points, and Bottenberg joined him in twin figures with 10. Both canned three-pointers.

Iida had a three among his five points, Gorski and Johnson hit four points apiece and Baumgardner had a point.


Ashburn stars

Matt Ashburn poured in 39 points in two games, but the best the Saratoga boys basketball team could manage was a split in the first week of play in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

Ashburn had four threes among his seven field goals to finish with 18 points in Saratoga's tight 38-36 win over Mountain View to open the league season.

Lawrence Hui supported with six points, Greg Van Hoesen added four, Irving Chien and Nima Rad each drilled three-pointers and Dan Wallace and Aron Mitsunaga hit two points apiece.

Ashburn came back with 21 points, but the Falcons lost a 65-63 heartbreaker to Los Altos on Friday night.

Saratoga took a 10-point lead to the locker room at intermission, but the Eagles chipped away by five points in the third quarter, then outscored the Falcons 19-12 in the fourth to win by two.

Ashburn fired in five buckets from three-point range on his way to a 21-point night and Van Hoesen pounded inside for 14 points, but it wasn't enough for Saratoga.

D. Wallace supported with seven points, Hui hit six, Chien five, Mitsunaga four and Rad and Frank Wallace three each. Rad and Mitsunaga each popped three-pointers.

The Falcons are now 1-1 in division play and 9-5 for the year.


Girls are 11-5

The Saratoga girls, meanwhile, pushed their season record to 11-5 with a split last week in the first week of the league season. The Falcons lost to Palo Alto 66-63 in overtime before rolling over Los Altos 47-37 in De Anza Division play.

Jordan Henry and Julia Anderson buried 12 points apiece to lead the Saratoga girls to the win over the Eagles on Friday night. Saratoga trailed 10-7 after a period, but outscored Los Altos 18-10 in the second and 14-4 in the third to take control of the game.

Tiffany Tan dropped eight points for the Falcons and Victoria Liu had six. Bryte Nielsen added five points, including a three-pointer, and Hannah Gladwell and Katie Levinson added two apiece.

The Falcons lost a heartbreaker to Paly to open the week. Liu buried a team-high 17 points, but Saratoga lost in overtime to the Vikings.

Saratoga was up by three heading into the final period, but Paly managed to tie it and send the game into overtime. The Vikings topped the Falcons 12-9 in the extra period to clinch the win.

Liu dropped three threes among her six field goals and she added two points at the free-throw line to lead the Falcons. Amy Yee supported with 13 points and also canned three threes.

Anderson chipped in with nine points, Nielsen had seven, Gladwell and Henry six apiece, Tan three and Levinson two. Tan and Nielsen each popped threes.

The Falcons will be back on the floor this week for two big games. Saratoga was to host Milpitas on Jan. 14, 7 p.m., and will visit Los Gatos on Jan. 16, 7 p.m.


Gellman stars

Westmont's Rachel Gellman tossed in 26 points to lead the Westmont girls to a 43-37 win over Santa Teresa last week, but the Warriors lost 42-35 to Piedmont Hills a few days later in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Gellman hit six shots from the field and added 14 points at the free-throw line to lead the Warriors to the win over the Saints.

The Warriors, 4-10 for the year, lost to the Pirates a few days later.