"It was so noisy and it always is," Castillo said about the Mustangs' home court. "It was difficult for the players to hear [coaching instructions], and I have three assistants helping me.

"And it was an emotional game, and there was a large crowd."

And, of course, the Mustangs, were determined to win this match between neighboring schools.

Yet, Fremont managed to escape with a 55-50 win, its third straight victory in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League's rugged De Anza division. Homestead's division record fell to 1-4.

Junior Dan Bergeron, whose 24 points two nights earlier led the Firebirds over Los Gatos, tallied 25 against Homestead. Chris Gokey scored 15 points for Fremont and senior teammate Lance DeWitt had 12, including two free throws in the final seconds. Point guard Kevin Julian's three-point basket accounted for Fremont's only other points.

Bergeron, a 6-foot-6 forward, guarded Mustang Mark McLaughlin most of the evening and limited the high-scoring junior to just eight points. Domingo Emiano, a sharpshooting senior, paced the Mustangs with 17 points and sophomore playmaker David Ostrow had 10. Shane Wey scored five points, while Ronald Jackson and William Tsai tallied four each. Josh Cottrell chipped in with two.

Lance Turner didn't score for Fremont, but Castillo praised his defensive work on Ostrow, who made just two baskets. "Ostrow is a nice shooter, but Turner helped contain him," the coach said.

Except for some early moments, Fremont led all the way, but Homestead and the loud crowd never let the Firebirds get comfortable. In fact, each time the Firebirds opened up a lead, "we would make some mistakes to let them back into it," Castillo explained.

After a 12-12 first quarter, Fremont outscored Homestead by three for a 26-23 halftime lead. The Mustangs stayed close in part because Fremont players twice fouled Emiano while attempting three-point shots. He cashed in on all six free throws.

Fremont's offense started clicking in the third quarter, and the Firebirds outscored the Mustangs 16-8 for an 11-point lead. Junior guard Allen Castillo came off the bench to spark the Firebirds' defense during the period.

In the fourth quarter, Ostrow's dribble penetration drew some fouls from Fremont's interior defense and earned him some free throws. Fremont led by seven with a minute to play, but committed turnovers that helped Homestead make it a one-point game, 51-50.

Fremont recovered, however, making a couple of defensive stops in the final seconds and forcing Homestead to stop the clock with fouls. Bergeron and DeWitt both canned two free throws in the final seconds for the final five-point margin.

Castillo said the Firebirds "didn't play as well" earlier in the week against visiting Los Gatos, "although we led most of the way." Gokey (14 points) and DeWitt (10) joined Bergeron in double digits. Freshman center Leo Janisse scored six and Dave Tamondong had three.

Fremont started its win streak with a 68-44 whipping of Wilcox. Bergeron led the way with 18 points. Turner had 17, nine of them on three-pointers, and DeWitt had 16. Gokey scored five and Janisse four. Buddy Soto, Victor Stemplewski, Kevin La and Julian added two apiece.

The Firebirds took a 13-9 overall record and a 3-2 league mark into a game at Gunn on Jan. 27, their only game this week. Next week they clash with the division's best, teams that dumped Fremont by more than 10 points. They host Palo Alto on Feb. 4, and travel to Milpitas two nights later.

The Mustangs, who tangled with Milpitas on Tuesday, hopes a noisy crowd can help them defeat Los Gatos on Friday night. It is a quad game, with a 7:30 start, following the junior varsity, frosh-soph boys and varsity girls.

Before the close contest with Fremont, Homestead lost back-to-back games against the Palo Alto schools, 76-65 to Gunn and 55-37 to Palo Alto.

Emiano (20 points), McLaughlin (19) and Tsai (19) were the scoring leaders against Gunn. Ostrow, Alex Mrozack and Min Park scored two each and Jackson added one.

McLaughlin scored 14 at Palo Alto. Emiano tallied seven, Tsai six, Ostrow and Jackson four each and Wey two.

Fremont girls

There's only one set of sisters on the Fremont High School girls basketball team—junior Kelly and freshman Alison Bushnell—but coach John Wells says that all 13 players work together like one happy family.

"They're working really hard, playing good team defense and the chemistry has been great," Wells said of the Firebirds, who have won three of their first five division games and entered this week just one game behind second-place Mountain View (4-1).

Santa Clara (5-1), which handed Fremont an overtime loss in the league opener, started the week atop the El Camino Division standings.

In the past two weeks, the Firebirds have posted wins against Los Altos (50-41), Wilcox (41-34) and Cupertino (44-35). Wells attributes the recent success to "a deep bench" and the "lightning-quick" guard trio of seniors Shalainie Manuel and Jessica Moore and freshman Carol Hoang.

The quickness allows the Firebirds to "pressure the ball and create turnovers," Wells said. "We have scored a lot of points on steals."

The scoring comes from different players different games. Against Cupertino, Moore led 10 Fremont scorers with 13 points, nine on three-point shots.

Manuel had 12 against Wilcox, with post players Aneta Pariaszevski and Erin Sturm adding 10 and nine, respectively.

There were 11 scorers against Los Altos, paced by Moore's 14. Tiffany Le's two free throws with 15 seconds remaining put the game out of reach.

The only recent stumble was against Mountain View, a 59-47 loss. The Firebirds regrouped, however, to beat Cupertino. "The girls are hungry," Wells said. "They will continue to improve."