Willow Glen Resident

Sports

Rams roll to 25-point win over Acorns

By Dick Sparrer

Both of Willow Glen's opponents last week call Morgan Hill home. And the Rams quickly discovered that it's more fun playing a team from the South Valley on their home court than it on the road.

The Willow Glen boys basketball team traveled to Morgan Hill last Wednesday night to challenge Sobrato, but dropped a 60-43 decision to the Bulldogs. Two nights later, Morgan Hill's Live Oak was at Willow Glen and the Rams rolled 68-43 to even their record at 1-1 in the Santa Teresa Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

The Rams, 9-5 for the year, were to be back on their home floor on Jan. 9 against Silver Creek before hitting the road to visit Overfelt on Jan. 12, 7:30 p.m., and Andrew Hills on Jan. 17, 7 p.m. The Royals are 1-1 in league and 7-6 overall after opening league play with a split last week, beating Live Oak before losing to Silver Creek. Hill started league with losses to Leland and Silver Creek.

Willow Glen managed a split in the first week of league play when the Rams ran away from the Acorns with a huge second-half outburst.

The Rams were up 15-10 at the first buzzer, but led by only four at the half, 26-22. Willow Glen unloaded on Live Oak 21-7 in the third, though, to take a commanding lead, then topped the Acorns 21-14 in fourth to win by 25.

Kyle Schroeder led the Rams with 24 points, most of it coming on 11 buckets from the field. Steven Skavdahl joined Schroeder in double digits with 12 points, popping a three among five field goals and adding a point at the free-throw line.

Freshman Jimmy Renneke supported with eight points, Daniel O'Shaughnessy had seven, Brian Chunn popped six, Evan Bishop had four and Shawn Rooney, Ricky Huynh, Anthony Rodriguez and Nico Gomez added two each.

It was a different story earlier in the week against Sobrato down in Morgan Hill. The Rams trailed by just a point after a period at 16-15, but the Bulldogs blitzed Willow Glen 23-4 in the second quarter to lead 39-19 at the half. Sobrato outscored the Rams 13-8 in the third, then held on as the visitors fought back 16-8 in the fourth, though it was too little too late.

Rodriguez had the hot hand for the Rams with 18 points, including five three-pointers. Skavdahl and Schroeder each finished with nine points and each had a three. O'Shaughnessy added five points and Chunn had two.

The loss to Sobrato marked the third straight for the Rams, who had won eight of their first 10 games. The eight wins included a six-game win streak that featured three straight victories to win the championship in the Los Gatos Lions Club Wildcat Shootout.