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Fremont's Jesse Enchill goes up for two of his 13 points in a 50-45 CCS Division II semifinal win over Palo Alto. The Firebirds lost 63-56 to St. Francis in the CCS title game last Saturday night.
Photograph by Paul Myers
No upset for Fremont in CCS finals
Firebirds fall to Lancers despite Tulowitzki's 20
By Dick Sparrer
It was a classic case of David and Goliath when the Fremont boys basketball team went up against powerful St. Francis in the Central Coast Section Division II championship game last Saturday night at Santa Clara University's Leavey Center.
Fremont--that's David--was certainly the underdog in the championship match with St. Francis--that would be Goliath--even with the Lancers' 6-foot-9 David Chiotti on the bench for disciplinary reasons.
Still, the Firebirds were throwing up the rock well in the early going, tossing in eight buckets for 17 points to jump out to an 11-point lead early in the second quarter.
But in the end, the Lancers simply had too many weapons and too much depth for the Firebirds to overcome.
So there was no classic upset in this one. St. Francis came on strong in the second half to claim a 63-56 victory and the CCS Division II championship.
Still, there was no reason for the Firebirds to be hanging their heads after this one. Fremont hung with the much deeper St. Francis squad well into the fourth quarter before dropping the decision.
Seniors Troy Tulowitzki, Jacob Esau and Matt Phelps and juniors Tyler Duran, Jesse Enchill and Travis Harris played their hearts out to give the Lancers all they could handle in the game.
Tulowitzki led all Fremont scorers in the game with 20 points, including four three-pointers, and Esau joined him in double digits with 10. Harris had nine points, Duran eight, Enchill seven and Phelps two. Tulowitzki and Duran handed out four assists apiece and Enchill dished off two.
Esau topped the 'Birds on the boards with 10 rebounds and Enchill ripped down eight. Harris and Duran snagged five boards apiece and Phelps grabbed four. Phelps and Esau led the club with two steals each.
Fremont pitched in the eight of the game's first 11 field goals to jump out to a 17-6 lead. It was a three-pointer by Tulowitzki, with 6:59 left in the half, that gave the Firebirds the 11-point advantage.
The Lancers chipped away and eventually took an 18-17 lead with 49 seconds remaining in the second period, but Tulowitzki scored again with 34.5 seconds left to give Fremont a 19-18 lead at intermission.
The clubs traded buckets to start the second, and Fremont went back up 23-22 when Harris scored off a Duran assist with 6:43 left. But St. Francis took off on a 12-point run to go up by 11 with 4:31 left in the third.
The Lancers went up by as much as 14 points in the third and opened up a 16-point lead in the fourth before Fremont valiantly battled back. The Firebirds rallied and ultimately cut the lead to eight when a steal and layup by Tulowitzki made it 52-44 with 3:43 remaining. But that's as close as the Firebirds could get until Duran's bucket in the final seconds made it 63-56.
Fremont, 23-9 for the year, had opened the week with a 50-45 win over Palo Alto in the semifinals. Tulowitzki led the club with 21 points, including four threes, and Enchill had a three among his 13 points.
Phelps finished in twin figures with 10 points, Esau had four and Harris hit two.
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
