The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

'Tino tops Paly, then hangs on at Fremont

By Mike Barnhart

Of Fremont's four Central Coast Section basketball championships, Craig Ellegood helped win two--one as a player in 1983 and another as head coach in 1991.

But when Ellegood took Cupertino--the team he has coached for several years now--to his alma mater for a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League game on Jan. 11, there was no red carpet treatment.

Instead, the Firebirds slapped the visitors with a nasty man-to-man defense, challenging nearly every shot, and they played with an intensity that reminded the Pioneers of their own winning effort two nights earlier against five-time defending De Anza Division champion Palo Alto.

"We didn't expect the game to be that close," admitted 6-foot-5 senior Mike Carson, whose game-high 17 points helped Cupertino escape with a 46-45 victory. "They came at us hard, the way we were fired up against Palo Alto."

The 35-29 home triumph over Paly had marked the 11th time this season that the Pioneers held an opponent to 36 points or less.

"Our goal each game is to hold teams to 40 points or less," Ellegood explained. "We knew we were in trouble (against Fremont) when we gave up 28 points in the first half."

Fremont never trailed in the first half, but Cupertino gained some momentum just before halftime. 0n an out-of-bounds play with just 1.6 seconds left, J. D. Deborba swished a three-pointer from the right corner, trimming the Firebirds' lead to 28-27.

The Pioneers twice forged ahead in the third quarter, but trailed 41-39 at the end of the period when Fremont sophomore Jordan Sever's rebound and follow shot beat the buzzer and capped a 7-0 run.

Both defenses were fierce in the fourth quarter, the Pioneers outscoring Fremont 7-4.

Fremont's first five possessions of the last period resulted in three turnovers and two missed shots. The Firebirds committed five of their 12 turnovers in the fourth quarter and were shut out for the first six minutes of the period.

Nobody scored until Carson made a free throw with 4:35 to go. The point was 'Tino's first since two free throws by senior Brian Ly with 3:02 left in the third quarter.

The Pioneers regained the upper hand on Ly's lay-up with about three minutes left in the fourth quarter. They went ahead by two when another Carson foul shot put the Pioneers with 2:29 remaining.

Sean Brinkerhoff's driving lay-up at 1:43 broke a 43-43 tie, and Carson's third free throw of the period at 1:11 proved to be the decisive point. Brinkerhoff spoiled Fremont's final hope when he tipped and stole a pass with two seconds remaining.

Fremont held Cupertino to 39-percent shooting (17 for 44) from the field, while sinking 53 percent (19 of 36) of its own shots. Fremont's pair of 6-foot-4, 220-pounders--Sever and senior center Jacob Ryan--paced the Firebirds' 25-22 rebounding edge with seven each. Deborba grabbed six caroms and junior Kevin Lew picked off five for 'Tino.

Deborba scored nine points, Brinkerhoff and Ly both had six, Lew five, Jimmy Zhang two and Blake Warren one. Ly had a fine floor game, dishing out six assists and making three steals.

Although they got outshot and beat on the backboards, the Pioneers improved to 4-0 in the division and 16-3 overall, because they took care of the ball (only three turnovers) and rarely sent Fremont to the foul line. Cupertino's seven fouls led to 4 of 7 foul shooting for the Firebirds. Meanwhile, the Pioneers sank 11 of 18 from the charity stripe.

Cupertino's defense kept the Palo Alto game close until Ly sparked a 16-3 run in the final eight minutes to pull out the win. Despite scoring only two points in the second quarter, the Pioneers trailed only 26-19 heading into the fourth quarter. Ly (14) and Carson (10) were the only players from either team to score in double figures.

"I'm still trying to get the guys to understand that there are no easy games in this league," noted Ellegood, whose team will host Gunn (2-0), Jan. 16, 7 p.m., and travel to Saratoga (0-4), Jan. 18, 7:45 p.m.

Mats hit 96 in loss

Monta Vista scored 96 points in an El Camino Division game at Wilcox on Jan. 11, but lost in one of the more incredible games in CCS history. The Chargers overcame 18 three-point goals and a 37-point fourth quarter by the Matadors with 108 points of their own, including 41 free throws. Final score: 108-96.

Wilcox's total was just five points shy of the all-time CCS record, shared by Saratoga and Pinewood. The Falcons tallied 113 against Menlo-Atherton in 1979, and Pinewood tied the mark during a game against Valley View Christian in 1988.

Sean Brown, a Wilcox senior, led all scorers with 40 points, including 21 free throws.

Junior guards Phaniteja Kannegati and Kevin Lang scored 26 points each to lead Monta Vista (2-1). Sean Brar had 19 and sophomore Shawn Hansra 10 for the Mats.

Homestead (1-2) split a pair of games last week, following a 67-57 loss at Wilcox with a 56-45 home win over Mountain View. Three Mustangs, senior guards Jeff Whitford (28 total points) and Patrick Myers (23) and 6-foot-8 junior Doug Rathbun (22), scored in double figures in both games.

Like Wilcox (2-2), Lynbrook (3-1) won twice, setting up a showdown with Los Altos (3-0), Jan. 16, 7 p.m.

Wrestling

Monta Vista senior Daniel Lu captured the 152-pound championship at the 23rd Cupertino Memorial wrestling tournament on Jan. 5.

Ranked 10th in the CCS, Lu pinned senior Ethan Brusca of Wilcox in the third round.

Santa Ana won the 28-team event with 269 points. Los Gatos (187) was second, Salinas (141.5) third and host Cupertino (127) fourth.

Junior Kirby Haraguchi finished second for the host Pioneers, the best showing among the team's seven placers. Freshman Ian Messaros (130) earned a third, junior Scott Martin (145) took a fourth, senior Scott Marvin (285) and junior Mohammed Sharfi (103) placed fifth and senior Eddie Cho (160) was sixth.

Junior Graham Paterson of Monta Vista placed fourth at 285, and Homestead junior Mike Boucher took fifth at 125.

Soccer

Senior Jeff Bowman and junior David Kucera scored goals as Monta Vista (3-1, 6-5-2 overall) tightened up the SCVAL El Camino boys race by handing Mountain View (3-2) its second division loss in a row, 2-0 on Jan. 11.

Cupertino (3-2-0, 6-4-3), Fremont (3-1-1, 4-4-2) and Homestead (2-2-1, 4-5-4) all entered this week in title contention. The Pioneers beat Homestead 2-0 on two goals by senior Jonathon Buzawa. Senior Thorin Duffin and junior Meheretab Phifer-Houseman scored assists.

Key matches this week include Monta Vista at Fremont, Jan. 16, 3:30 p.m. Two days later, Mountain View visits Cupertino and Fremont hosts Homestead. Both games are set for 3:30 p.m.

In De Anza girls play, Monta Vista improved its division record to 2-0-2 by tying Los Gatos 1-1 and defeating Mountain View 2-1. Sandra Ley assisted Cheryl Kute on one goal and scored one, helping the Mats improve to 6-3-2 overall. Sarah Trankle also had an assist.

A 2-1 loss to visiting Los Gatos dropped Homestead to 1-3-1 and 4-5-2 overall.

In the El Camino Division, co-leaders Cupertino (3-0-2, 7-3-3) and Saratoga did not settle anything when they met on Jan. 9. Junior CiCi Kobinski scored her 12th goal of the season in the Pioneers' 1-1 tie with the Falcons. Saratoga (4-0-2) later tagged on a win, while Cupertino had a bye.