Saratoga News
Sports
Falcons make it three straight in league
By Dick Sparrer
So what exactly has gotten into the boys basketball team at Saratoga High School?
The Falcons were winless four games into the season in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, and now they've won three straight--including two against the division leaders and one in overtime against always tough Milpitas.
It was a buzzer-beating shot by Keon Ghafouri that seems to have been the shot in the arm the Falcons needed. Ghafouri's three-pointer lifted Saratoga from a one-point deficit to a 61-59 win over Cupertino a couple of weeks ago, and since then the Falcons have knocked off first-place Palo Alto 52-49 and Milpitas 72-71 in OT.
Saratoga had lost to Los Gatos (77-67), Paly (70-37), Fremont (75-60) and Gunn (51-41) to open the league play in dismal fashion, and things didn't look they'd get much better when they played host to undefeated Cupertino on Jan. 18.
But Ghafouri's three-ball lifted the Falcons to the upset win over the Pioneers, dropping Cupertino into a first-place tie with Palo Alto. A week later, though, the Falcons knocked Paly right out of that tie with a three-point win in Saratoga.
Sandwiched between the two wins over the league leaders, the Falcons outlasted Milpitas in overtime, and they're now right in the middle of the pack in the division with a 3-4 record.
Ghafouri popped a pair of threes among his seven field goals and added four points at the free-throw line to lead the Falcons to the win over the Trojans. Andy Capek supported with 16 points, including four at the line, and Daniel Chou pitched in five threes to finish with 15 points.
Steven Walker and Alvin Hsia supported with six points apiece, Owen Huang had five and Jamie Turley hit four.
Capek was the big scorer for the Falcons in the win over Paly on Friday night. He had a three among his four field goals and he added seven points a the line to finish with 16.
Ghafouri had a pair of threes among his 13 points. Walker finished with eight points, Chou seven, Edmund Ye four and Huang and Chris Chiou two apiece. Chou also had a three.