BVAL Tourney adds to excitement for local teams, who open
regular-season play this week. The Acorns visit Saratoga at 7 p.m.
today, and the Bulldogs host Oak Grove at the same time
Thursday
MORGAN HILL
Live Oak senior Ryan Hennings left a scrappy preseason jamboree Thursday at Sobrato High School knowing little about his team or what direction it was headed.
It was his second workout as a member of the Acorns’ 2010-11 basketball squad — football season ended the previous Friday — and the 6-foot-2 forward was getting adjusted to the idea of being one of Live Oak’s go-to guys in the paint this winter.
Hennings was excited about something else, however; something every player from a Blossom Valley Athletic League school no doubt contemplate as the regular season begins this week. A true BVAL championship is at stake.
In a landmark stroke of innovation, the 24-team superconference is holding a tournament the week before the start of the Central Coast Section playoffs as a final proving ground for teams trying to make the postseason and a warmup for those already in. The latter can help their cause toward earning a favorable seed.
“I literally heard about it just a second ago. I think it’s awesome,” Hennings said. “It gives you more to play for at the end of the season.”
The BVAL Tournament reportedly will take the top four teams from the Mount Hamilton Division, three from the Santa Teresa Division and two from the West Valley Division.
As is the case in other BVAL finals, the regular-season division champions have an inside track to sectionals.
“It’s kind of cool and exciting to have stuff like this,” said 10th-year Live Oak coach Brett Paolucci, whose team placed sixth in the West Valley a year ago. “It definitely makes things different for us. Instead of aiming for the top spot, our goal is to place in the top two.”
With eight veterans back from a group that found its niche toward the end of last season, the Acorns have as good a chance to make the tournament as any team in the West Valley. Winning their first league title in more than 20 years could be a stretch; the BVAL C division returns defending champion Lincoln among three of its top four finishers in 2009 and welcomed back Gunderson, a wild-card program that lasted one year in the Santa Teresa.
But the potential is there for Live Oak. It starts in the frontcourt with Hennings and Kevin O’Rourke, a 6-foot-3 senior center who is out to emulate the play of departed scoring and rebounds leader Dominic Leach
“We definitely need more of a team effort this year to be successful,” O’Rourke said. “It’s going to take more than one guy going off for 20 points every night. We all have to contribute.”
The past two years, Live Oak’s offense revolved around Leach and all-league guards Cody Gallizioli and Michael Schreiber. The Acorns need some of their older, albeit unseasoned, backcourt players to step up, be it their sweet-shooting senior guards Matt Levy and Jason Yeung and their tenacious No. 3 forward Kyle Luscher, another senior.
“Some of the returning players … are going to be in the mix, and guys are going to have to spell other guys,” Paolucci said. “Bottom line, we need to compete in every game. We can’t go out there, play three quarters and get the butterflies out and be ready to play. We have to be ready to play as soon as we walk into the gym.”
As a junior starting next to the likes of all-leaguers Ryan Williams, Chris and Bryan Bradley in 2009, Pierre Hemphill was Sobrato’s version of Rajon Rondo during the 2008 NBA season, a talented youth surrounded by top-flight veterans.
Just as Rondo did for the Boston Celtics during their run to a world title that year, Hemphill became a solid point guard for SHS as it ran away with a second Santa Teresa Division championship and reached the CCS quarterfinals for the first time since the playoffs expanded to five rounds.
“Whatever it takes to win, I’m all for it,” Hemphill says.
This winter, Hemphill is frontman for a young Sobrato team that’s not about to relinquish its throne without a fight.
Hemphill said the Bulldogs “need to work twice as hard” to get where they were a year ago, and the 6-foot-1 senior is leading by example. He spent this offseason improving his play on defense, which is a catalyst for Sobrato’s fast-paced attack.
“He’s matured a lot,” SHS coach Lee Washington said of Hemphill, who averaged 7.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game as a second-team all-leaguer a year ago. “One thing we know he can do is defend and score, but he’s worked on his responsibility as a point guard. That’s making the right reads and getting his team involved. He’s like a coach on the floor; things aren’t going to get started unless he generates it.”
Solid guards were only part of the equation during the Bulldogs’ back-to-back playoff runs in 2008-09 and 2009-10. The team also had spectacular frontcourt play, an act that will be tough to follow for Sobrato’s quick but undersized big men, 6-foot-1 seniors Scott Taylor, Alex Hernandez and 6-foot-3 junior center Ben Vater.
“We just need to step it up more,” said Taylor, one of seven varsity veterans. “Last year, we had big guys that could rebound well. This year, we’re much smaller, so we need to make sure we play defense as best we can.”
Washington is excited about the guard play of juniors Steven Villarreal, Travis Saenz and senior George Baraona.
Hemphill is doing his best to help his younger teammates come out of their shells. They made progress during Thursday’s jamboree after Santa Teresa junior Trevor Priest threw down a dunk against them.
“If that’s what it takes!” Hemphill said. “I think all of our guys have some strengths coming in. They can’t be timid about it.”
