The Falcons are heading into the final three games of the season in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League trailing Cupertino in the standings. They knew they had to win when they host the Pioneers on Feb. 8, 7 p.m. But after a tough 46-40 loss to division rival Santa Clara last week, they now need a little help from their friends, too.

Cupertino tops the division with a 9-0 record and Saratoga is second at 7-2. To win a share of the El Camino crown, the Falcons must beat the Pioneers this week and hope that Cupertino also loses to either Wilcox or Santa Clara.

The Falcons can't hold much hope for the Chargers to upset the Pioneer. Wilcox is just 3-6 in the division after suffering an 81-62 loss at the hands of Saratoga last Friday night.

But Santa Clara? That's a different story.

The Bruins are 5-4 and rest in third place in the division. What's more, they're fresh off the win over the Falcons last week.

So the road to the El Camino Division championship for the Falcons is pretty clear cut--they need to beat Cupertino on Wednesday, top Lynbrook on the road on Feb. 10, 7:30 p.m., and finish league play with a victory over Los Altos at home on Feb. 15, 7 p.m. And, they need some help from Santa Clara on Feb. 15.

The Bruins weren't all that helpful last week when they hung on to beat the Falcons in a see-saw battle on the Santa Clara floor.

Saratoga led by a bucket at the first buzzer, 14-12, and by a point at the half, 23-22. But the Bruins topped the Falcons 13-11 in the third to grab a one-point lead, then outscored Saratoga 11-6 in the fourth to win by six.

Junior Bo Nielsen led the Falcons with 14 points and senior Ryan Matsuura was close behind with 13. Nielsen had a three-pointer among his six field goals and added a free throw, and Matsuura had a three among his five field goals and hit two points at the line.

Seniors Scott Newberry, Kia Agahdel and Peter Sclavos also got in on the scoring. Newberry supported with six points, Agahdel hit four and Sclavos had three.

The results were much better for the Falcons later in the week when they unloaded on Wilcox for a 19-point. Saratoga opened up the game by storming out to a 22-7 lead in the first quarter, and after getting outscored in the next two periods, finished off the night by dominating the Chargers 23-13 in the fourth.

Kia Agahdel had a big night for the Falcons with 29 points, including five three-pointers.

Nielsen and Newberry tossed in 14 points apiece, Nielsen draining a three. Matsuura had a three among his seven points and sophomore Keon Ghafouri had a three among his five points.

Kourosh Agahdel added five points, Sclavos four, Nick Valluri two and Sean Casserly one.

The Saratoga girls, meanwhile, suffered two defeats to the league leaders last week to slip to 2-7 in the El Camino Division and to 3-17 for the year.

The Falcons dropped a 59-34 nod to second-place Fremont on Tuesday before falling to division-leading Mountain View 45-35 on Friday night.

Saratoga trailed the Spartans by only a point after a period, 8-7, and were behind by just four heading in the final quarter, 32-28. Mountain View topped the Falcons 13-7 in the fourth, though, to clinch the 10-point win.

Junior sharpshooter Lisa Ruddy led the offensive assault for the Falcons with 13 points. Three of her five field goals came from three-point range.

Alex Sclavos was also hot from outside the arc. The freshman canned a couple of threes among her four field goals and added a point at the free-throw line to finish with 11 points for the Falcons.

Seniors Paige Henry and Katie Reed also figured in the scoring for Saratoga. Henry tossed in six points and Reed added five. They each popped threes.

Things didn't go as well for the Falcons earlier in the week against Fremont. Saratoga trailed by just six points at intermission, 25-19, but the Falcons were outscored in every period by the Firebirds as the hosts rolled to the 15-point win.

Henry led Saratoga with 10 points, including a pair of threes, and senior Mika Lewis had three threes to finish with nine points.

Sclavos and junior Tamara Schroeder had four points apiece and Reed, Ruddy and sophomore Vanessa Guzman added two each. Soph Katie Low hit a free throw.

The Falcons, who were to host Cupertino on Tuesday, will head to Lynbrook on Feb. 10 for a 6:15 p.m. before closing out the season at home on Valentine's Day in a 7 p.m. game against Los Altos.