Anthony Herrera made a short jumper with 8.6 seconds left, and
San Jose beat Live Oak 54-53
SAN JOSE — Anthony Herrera made a short jumper with 8.6 seconds left, and San Jose beat Live Oak 54-53 Tuesday, eliminating the Acorns from postseason contention.
Visiting Live Oak had one last chance to score, but could not get a shot off.
Herrera scored 19 points in the second half, helping the Bulldogs snap a two-game losing streak and stay alive in the playoff race at 8-14 overall and 6-5 in Blossom Valley Athletic League-West Valley Division play.
“He was the difference,” Live Oak first-year coach Vince Pacheco said. “He single handily carried their team tonight.”
The Acorns (7-15 overall, 3-8 BVAL) needed to win their final five games to finish .500 in division play and become eligible for the CIF-Central Coast Section Division III tournament. All eight of their regular-season losses came by single-digit margins, including four by three points or less.
“When you don’t have success in previous seasons, you never learn how to close out or dominate to a point where you don’t have to worry in games,” said Pacheco, who took over a program that finished 2-22 last year. “We couldn’t put those close ones away. I don’t know how much to burden myself or the kids. We have to keep going through. You have to put these games away.”
Dominic Leach scored 17 points to lead Live Oak, and Cody Gallizioli ended with 11. Michael Schreiber added seven points, and Shane Herber, Alika Bantilan and Dylan Davis netted six apiece.
The Acorns led 13-4 after the first quarter and 25-16 at halftime. They were outscored 23-9 in the third period.
“We were all over it in the first half, but then we had some mental lapses,” Pacheco said. “Herrera got away from us and went off.”
Live Oak will play its final home game against Gunderson on Friday before traveling to Prospect and Yerba Buena next week.
“I told my seniors, they have three games left in your high school career. How do you want to end it?” Pacheco added. “You’ll graduate and wish you had this time back. So you have to leave everything on the court.”
