The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Firebirds win two, lose two

King's Academy tops 100 points in a game

By Dick Sparrer

It was a good start and a good finish.

But in between, things didn't go too well for the Fremont boys' basketball team last week.

The Firebirds opened the week with an impressive 75-58 win over James Lick in the first round of the Overfelt Tournament. And they finished the week with a solid 48-31 victory over San Lorenzo Valley in a nonleague game.

But between the two wins came two losses in the Overfelt Tourney--one a tough 51-48 loss to Gilroy, and the other a 53-38 loss to host Overfelt in the tournament's third-place game.

Still, the split left the Firebirds with a respectable 6-9 season record heading into play in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League this week.

Fremont clinched its sixth win of the year with the 17-point victory over San Lorenzo Valley last weekend.

Darren Lang poured in 15 points and Trevor Frederickson supported with 10 to lead the Firebirds to the 48-31 win. Lang had a three-point bucket among his four fields, and he added six points at the free-throw line.

Melvin Rabena drilled a pair of threes to finish with six points, and Thai Kim also had six points. Michael Hardwick hit four points, Michael Harris three and Reynold Carlos and Manuel Mendoza two each.

Fremont opened up a quick 11-point lead in the first period, 16-5, and stretched that to 16 by the half, 31-15. The Firebirds held onto that lead in the second half to clinch the win.

It was a different story in the first round of the Overfelt Tournament. The Firebirds were down 17-14 at the first buzzer against Lick, and they trailed by one at the half, 31-30. But Fremont topped the Comets 17-14 in the third to take the lead, then crushed them 28-13 in the fourth for the easy 75-58 win.

Rabena had the hot hand for the Firebirds with 24 points, including three three-pointers. Lang pitched in 16 points, including a three, and Ben Skinner joined the others in double digits with 11 points.

Hardwick hit a three on his way to seven points, and Frederickson added six points. Harris had five points, including a three, Carlos added four and Erwin Tugadi hit two.

Rabena and Hardwick combined for 24 points and four three-point buckets, but Fremont lost 51-48 to Gilroy.

Rabena led the Firebirds with 13 points and Hardwick added 11. Both of Rabena's field goals were three-pointers, and he added seven points at the free-throw line. Hardwick also had a pair of threes.

Skinner finished with six points, and Tugadi, Manuel Mendoza and Scott Colombo had four each. Lang, Harris and Frederickson chipped in with two points each.

Fremont lost 53-38 to Overfelt a night later to wind up fourth in the tourney.

Mustangs lose three

The Homestead boys lost three straight games at the Overfelt Tournament to finish the nonleague season at 2-10.

The Mustangs lost their opener by five to host Overfelt, 65-60, then fell by seven to Yerba Buena, 52-45. Homestead dropped the seventh-place game 63-57 to James Lick.

Senior forward Brian Holm pumped in 15 points to lead all Homestead scorers in the loss to Lick. Matt Hovik bombed three three-pointers to finish with nine points and Matt Hoffman added seven points, including a three.

Keith Merikawa added six points, Pat Cabell five, Joe Whiteman and Jim Kiel four apiece, Max McCay three and Greg Fobbs and Trenton Hill two each.

Holm had tossed in 10 points, and Whiteman and Steve Lambert hit six apiece in the loss to Yerba Buena a game earlier. Whiteman dropped a couple of threes.

Fobbs and Dat Lai supported with five points apiece, Hovik and Hill had four each, Hoffman hit a three and Cabell had two.

Holm had the hot hand with 15 points, but Homestead lost 65-60 to Overfelt to open the tourney.

Hovik and Fobbs added nine points apiece, and Jason Woods and Lambert had eight each. Kiel hit six, Cabell and Lai two each and Hoffman one.

The Mustangs will open play in the El Camino Division of the SCVAL this week when they host Cupertino on Jan. 9, 7:30 p.m.

King's wins two

The King's Academy boys' basketball team put together back-to-back wins over Cloverdale and Redwood Christian to win the consolation championship in the Athenian Tournament in Danville last week.

The Knights lost their tourney opener, but they battled back with a pair of impressive, high-scoring victories.

King's outscored Cloverdale 82-69, then topped the century mark in an impressive 103-95 win over Redwood Christian.

The Knights trailed 26-20 after a period, but they poured in an incredible 37 points in the second quarter to take a 57-49 lead at intermission. They added 27 more points in the third and 19 in the fourth to go over 100 points for the game and pull out the win.

James Terada hit a pair of threes among his 10 field goals on his way to a 23-point night. Tayo Akinsete fired in 18 points in the win, and Nate Morrow jammed 16. Dan Friske tossed in 10 points to join the others in double digits.

Dan Leong chipped in with nine points, and Hank Spates and Tony Castillo added eight apiece for the Knights. Spakes buried a couple of three-pointers.

King's, now 6-4 for the year, had pounded Cloverdale 82-69 a game earlier. Morrow led the Knights with 18 points, and Terada popped 16. Brian Meng buried 13 points, and Castillo tossed in 10. Meng, Terada and Spates each popped threes in the win.

The Knights had opened the week with a 62-54 loss to Washington, despite 16 points by Akinsete and 13 by Morrow.

Firebirds win

The Fremont girls rolled to a 53-49 nonleague win over Carlmont last week. The victory helped the Firebirds improve to 7-4 for the year.

Natalie Woo pumped in 20 points to lead the 'Birds to the victory. La-Nolia Ufondu joined her in double figures with 10 points.

Chi Tran ended the night with eight points, including a three-pointer, and Monique Gammon added six. Beatriz Corro hit four points for the winners, Sarah Larkin canned a three, and Sheila Hess hit two.

Fremont led 11-8 after a period, but trailed 25-23 at the half and 37-34 after three quarters. The Firebirds outscored Carlmont 19-12 in the fourth, though, to pull out the victory.

Wald stars

It was a tough week for the Homestead girls.

The Mustangs won their opener in the Dons Holiday Tournament at Del Mar, beating El Camino 55-37, but they came back last week to lose a pair, falling 54-38 to Carlmont and 42-37 to Westmont in the tourney's third-place game.

After finishing fourth in the tournament, Homestead lost a nonleague game to Leland 46-35 to finish the preseason with an 8-5 record.

Wald starred in the tournament for the Mustangs and ended up winning a berth on the all-tourney team.

After tossing in 18 points in the opener against El Camino, Wald came back to hit 12 points against Carlmont and eight against Westmont to finish the tournament with 38 points.

Wald and Shelly Mellberg pitched in 12 points apiece in the loss to Carlmont. Mellberg hit two three-pointers and Wald buried one.

Vickie Chiang supported with eight points for Homestead and Julie Speckels hit a three.

Speckels came back with 10 points, including a three, but the Mustangs lost 42-37 to Westmont in the third-place game. Wald and Chiang added eight points apiece and Marie Levey hit six.

Wald poured in 12 points and Mellberg added eight, but the Mustangs lost 46-35 to Leland later in the week. Wald hit a three and Mellberg canned a pair of threes. Speckels supported with seven points, hitting a three among her three field goals.

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 7, 1998.
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