The Falcons opened the tournament with a thrilling 70-68 victory over Aragon, holding off a fourth-quarter comeback bid by the Dons. And they got off to a solid start in the second round of the tourney when they matched Pioneer's eight first-quarter points, then after a slow start in the second quarter, scored the last six points of the period to head into the half down by just seven.

But that's when the roof caved in for the Falcons. Pioneer topped Saratoga 17-8 in the third and 18-13 in the fourth to post a 60-39 win to advance to the quarterfinals. The Mustangs lost their next game 59-44 to Seaside to drop out of the tourney.

The Falcons gave the Mustangs all they could handle for much of the first half. Senior guard Ryan Matsuura came up with a couple of key steals to help Saratoga knot Pioneer 8-8 after a period.

Pioneer seemed to be pulling away with a 25-12 lead before the Falcons scored the final six points of the half to cut the lead to 25-18 at intermission. Sophomore Keon Ghafouri, who had seven points in the first half, but four points and junior Bo Nielsen added two in Saratoga's late six-point run.

Matsuura and Nielsen pitched in four points apiece in the third quarter, but that's all Saratoga could manage as Pioneer pulled away for good with 17 points. The Falcons had trouble penetrating a tough Pioneer zone defense.

Nielsen was Saratoga's scoring leader with 14 points, 10 of them coming in the second half. He hit a three-point bucket in the fourth quarter.

Ghafouri supported with nine points, including five at the line. Scott Newberry hit seven points, Matsuura six and P.J. Rezaii three.

Saratoga opened the tourney with the 70-68 win over Aragon. Nielsen was on fire with 25 points, including five threes, and Kia Agahdel was hot with 17 points, including three threes.

Nick Valluri chipped in with nine points, Matsuura and Newberry had eight apiece and Ghafouri hit two.