Saratoga knew that the journey would be challenging and that the mountain was tall, but the Falcons believed that they could overcome the challenges and make the climb. No one thought that the journey would end as quickly as it did.

After a first-round bye, the No. 5 Falcons went up against No. 4 St. Ignatius in a CCS Division III boys basketball quarterfinal contest last Saturday. The talented St. Ignatius squad played an exceptional game and handed Saratoga a disappointing 63-49 loss that was much closer than the score indicated. The loss closed out the 2004­05 campaign for the Falcons who put together a fine season going 22-6 overall and claimed a co-championship in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.

Coach Mike Davey and his Falcons knew that they had their work cut out for them, but were ready for the challenge.

"We needed to out-physical and out-effort them for four quarters in order to have a chance to win," Davey said. "In a game against a team like that we needed to be as close to perfect as we could be to have a chance to win."

"We didn't quite do that," the coach added. "We gave them the second quarter and they played well the whole game. That was the difference."

In that devastating second quarter, St. Ignatius outscored Saratoga 22-8 to take a 34-19 lead into halftime. The Falcons could never recover. St. Ignatius' Matt Jones inflicted most of the damage, knocking down eight points in the quarter, including a pair of two-handed dunks, and eventually poured in a game-high 24 points.

In spite of a slow start finding the range on their shots, the Falcons managed to battle to only a 12-11 deficit at the end of the first quarter. It was an inside outside attack with senior Danny Wallace working the paint while senior Chris Etterman and junior Ryan Matsuura connected on a pair of three bombs.

After the tough second quarter, Etterman caught fire in the third and sizzled the cords for nine points on three treys while Matsuura added one of his own. The surge brought the Falcons to within nine midway through the period before the Wildcats pulled away again to head into the fourth with a 50-34 advantage.

The trio of seniors--Ben Coggins, Wallace and Nima Rad--led a 10-4 run to open the fourth with Rad's three-pointer cutting the deficit to 10 points, but the firepower of the Wildcats was too much to overcome down the stretch.

"Our wings can shoot and we need them to do that because it opens up Wallace inside more," Davey said. "[St. Ignatius] was good at denying that and pressuring the outside and we were not as effective as we have been."

"We also were only five of 15 from the free-throw line and missed some key one-and-ones late in the game," the coach added.

Wallace had an outstanding game shooting 8 for 12 from the field to lead the Falcons in scoring with 19 while pulling down 12 rebounds. Etterman fired in 12 points, all from behind the arc and Matsuura swished in 10, including three three-pointers. Rad dropped in four points. Coggins and Scott Newberry added two each.

The Falcons also got solid defensive play from senior Justin Kemp on the boards. In addition, senior Ken Baba and sophomore Bo Nielsen made their presence felt, pressuring the Wildcat guards.

"All of our seniors fought hard and finished strong," Davey said.

Unfortunately, the finish came sooner than expected, but the climb was good while it lasted.