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Fremont wins Fukushima title
Homestead, King's each nail victories
By Dick Sparrer
There's a load of basketball left to be played between now and when the time comes to crown a champion in the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
But the Fremont boys basketball team doesn't have to wait that long to get fitted for a crown. The Firebirds already have one.
Fremont won three straight games last week to claim the title in the Fukushima Tournament at Independence High School in east San Jose.
The Firebirds whipped Overfelt 44-31, edged Piedmont Hills 58-54 and nipped host Independence 50-48 in overtime to win the tournament championship.
Troy Tulowitzski sparked the Firebirds to the tourney title. The junior was Fremont's leading scorer in each of the three games, and he finished the tournament with 64 points and a 21.3 per game scoring average.
Tulowitzski just about hit his average in the title game, poured in 21 points to lead the Firebirds to the overtime win over the 76ers. He had a three-pointer among his eight field goals, and he also tossed in four points at the free-throw line.
David Phelps supported with 12 points in the win and Jacob Esau added nine. Dominik Stewart chipped in with four points and Jesse Enchill and David Fernandez hit two apiece.
The Firebirds found themselves down 18-8 after a period, trailing by nine at the half (23-14) and behind by eight after three quarters (35-27). But the 'Birds outscored the Sixers 18-10 in the final period to tie the game, then edged their hosts 5-3 in the extra stanza to win by two.
Fremont won a close one in the semifinals, beating Piedmont 58-54 behind a 25-point effort by Tulowitzski. Enchill got hot in this one, going for 14 points. Phelps had seven, Esau six, Stewart three, Fernandez two and Ryan Castro one.
It was another come-from-behind effort for the Firebirds, who were down 47-39 heading into the fourth. But Fremont topped Piedmont 19-7 in the last quarter to pull out the win.
Tulowitzski went for eight points to lead the Firebirds to the 44-31 win over Overfelt in the tourney opener. Esau and Phelps hit nine apiece in the win, Enchill had five and Fernandez two.
The three wins evened Fremont's record at 3-3.
Mustangs win
The Homestead boys, meanwhile, won a couple of games last week to push their season record to 4-3.
Garren Strong led the Mustangs with 14 points and Taylor Carpenter and Brad Sasaki each finished in double figures with 10 points apiece in the 49-29 nonleague win over Branham.
Ramont Thomas and Robbie Hoffman added four points apiece, John McGaughlin hit three and Gus Gauntlett and Armen Ekmekji had two each.
Strong had 15 points in a 49-45 win over Woodside in the Lynbrook Tournament. Sasaki and Hoffman added eight points apiece and Thomas popped seven.
The clubs were tied 35-35 heading into the final period, but the Mustangs outscored the Wildcats 14-10 to pull out the four-point victory.
Carpenter had seven points to lead the Mustangs in a 47-32 loss to Oak Grove a game earlier. Hoffman, Sasaki and McGaughlin added six points each in the game. Hoffman popped a pair of three-pointers in the loss.
Homestead head coach Matt Zehner says Sasaki (5-foot-10), Strong (6-foot-2), Thomas (6-foot) and Carpenter (5-foot-9) are all players to watch this season. Sasaki is an all-league returner and Strong was an all-league honorable mention pick last year.
The four all return from last year's club along with McGaughlin (6-foot-2), Tom Bishop (6-foot-1), Hoffman (5-foot-7), Dave Wu (5-foot-8), Steve Vanderet (6-foot-3) and Randy Chang (5-foot-9).
The coach added that Gauntlett (5-foot-7), Ekmekji (5-foot-11) and Bryan Silverman (6-foot-2) are top prospects up from the frosh-soph. Gauntlett won all-league first team honors on the frosh-soph last year with Silverman a second-team pick and Ekmekji on the honorable mention list.
The Mustangs will be home this week to face Prospect on Dec. 12, 7 p.m., before heading to San Jose Academy on Dec. 14, 6:30 p.m.
Homestead will compete in the Fremont Tournament Dec. 19-23.
Knights fourth
The King's Academy boys finished fourth last week at the Wilson Memorial Tournament in Pebble Beach, beating host Robert Louis Stevenson in the first round before losing two straight.
Alex Ziegler poured in 27 points to lead the Knights to the important first-round win over Stevenson. Bill Dunaway chipped in with 15 points, Aaron Scott hit 14 and Brent Mitchell popped 10. David Flory, Josh Bruce and Kingsley Manoharan rounded out the scoring with two each.
But the Knights lost two straight after that, including a 71-34 loss to Palma in the third-place game. Ziegler led the Knights with 13 points.
King's is off to a 2-5 start in the early stages of the 2000-01 season, but head coach Vince Leong hopes his club will turn around its losing ways once it comes time for play in the Private Schools Athletic League.
The 6-foot-2 Ziegler and 5-foot-11 Dunaway are top senior returners for King's this winter. Mitchell, a 6-foot junior, and sophomores Scott (6-foot-1) and Flory (5-foot-9) are also back from last year's club that posted a 12-14 season.
Seniors Eugene Kim (5-foot-9), Evan Chang-Siu (5-foot-9) and Kamran Kim (6-foot) provide depth for the Knights this season along with juniors Tim Clarke (5-foot-9), Bruce (6-foot-3) and Simon Gober (5-foot-9) and sophomore Manoharan (5-foot-7).
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Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
