One of Live Oak
’s best ever seasons came to a close Saturday afternoon.
One of Live Oak’s best ever seasons came to a close Saturday afternoon.
No. 6 Live Oak was defeated 68-62 by No. 3 Salinas in the Central Coast Section Division I semifinals at Santa Clara High School. It was the third time Live Oak has lost to Salinas this year.
Salinas will play No. 2 Serra, who defeated No. 7 San Benito 75-47, in the Division 1 semifinals tonight at Santa Clara High. Live Oak finished its season with a very respectable record of 21-7.
“I thought we had a great chance to win,” said Live Oak coach Brett Paolucci. “I don’t think we came in as underdogs. We knew it was going to be a battle. In CCS, everything is stepped up a notch.”
The outside shots were falling for the Acorns on Saturday. But not even seven three-pointers could save the team. In 26 regular season games, Live Oak averaged 3.53 three-pointers for game.
It was the third time this season Live Oak has recorded seven three-pointers in one game. Live Oak was 1-2 and was outscored 175-168 in those games.
The 68 points by Salinas was the most Live Oak has given up this year. A major reason for that was Salinas’ Drew Sanchez, who went crazy with 29 points.
Every time the Acorns appeared to have a little momentum going, Sanchez created opportunities at the free throw line by drawing the foul. He went 16-for-19 from the line.
“He was hitting from the outside, but we had no answer for him,” Paolucci said. “We had Jeff Yeung on him, and he did a good job.”
“We tried to snuff Drew out the whole game,” Paolucci added. “We did a whole bunch of things defensively, and not a one of them worked. We had no answer for their offense – dribble, penetrate then kick it back out.”
Live Oak was forced to play catchup for most of the game. The Acorns were down 9-3 coming out of the stretch. With 45 second left in the first quarter, Steve Conner hit a three. And Drew Pearson, who led the Acorns with 14 points, had a tipin at the end of the first quarter to tie the score at 15-15.
Live Oak fell behind 20-15 at the start of the second quarter. The Salinas press started to take effect and create turnovers.
“We worked all week long on their full-court press,” Paolucci said. “We have had trouble with that this season. We got too tentative with the ball and made some errant passes. In a game like this you got to take advantage of every offensive possession.”
“We wanted to keep the game fast,” said Salinas coach Joe Chappell, who picked up career win 543 – which is second in CCS. “We did it periodically but we couldn’t do it all the time.”
The Acorns were down just two points going into the half thanks to an 8-4 run in the final three minutes with both Maciek Bratkowski and Pearson in at the same time. Miles Curley drained a three pointer with ten seconds left.
“We saw they had a mismatch in there so we tried to go in a little taller because their big guy was in foul trouble,” Paolucci said.
Live Oak finally claimed its first lead of the game with four minutes left in the third quarter. Conner fished a nice pass from Curley to put the Acorns up 37-36, but Salinas came back with a bucket right away.
Neither team was able to get much momentum. There were eight ties in the game. With 32 second left in the third quarter, Live Oak took a 44-40 lead – which was the largest differential of the game for the Acorns.
Going into the fourth quarter up 46-44, Live Oak was posed to make a run. With 6:39 left, Live Oak again upped its advantage to four at 50-46.
The Cowboys went ahead for good and took a 54-52 lead with 4:48 left in the game. Salinas then went on an 11-2 run in the next two and a half minutes – highlighted by Casey Neligh’s big three-pointer.
Pearson broke up the streak with a two-handed dunk with about two minutes left, but it was not enough to get the Acorns back in.
“I thought they (Live Oak) played really well,” Chappell said. “We’re a tough matchup for them, and they are a tough matchup for us. We had a spurt towards the end. That is pretty much all it was.”
“We kept on battling back, battling back,” Paolucci said. “I am real happy with the team’s effort. Overall, I couldn’t ask for a better season. I don’t think a lot of people expected us to get this far. You got to be happy with a 20-win season. That is a great accomplishment for anyone.”
With eight seniors on the team, Live Oak will have a young team next year.
“We couldn’t have done it this season without the senior leadership,” Paolucci said. “There are a couple guys that came around the end of the season that we are real excited about for next year.”’
Live Oak 15 11 20 16––62
Salinas 15 13 16 24––68
Live Oak (21-7): Curley 5 0-0 12, Wright 2 0-0 6, Bratkowski 0 3-4 3, Moquin 1 0-0 2, Pearson 6 2-4 14, Chappell 2 2-5 6, Yeung 1 0-0 3, Wong 4 0-0 9, Conner 2 3-4 8. Totals 23 10-17 62.
Salinas(24-4): Choate 4 0-2 9, Incaviglia 1 0-0 2, McCarty 1 0-0 2, Neligh 5 2-2 14, Sanchez 6 16-19 29, Taylor 3 4-5 10, Smith 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 20-26 68.
Three-point goals: Live Oak Curley(2), Wright (2), Yeung, Wong, Conner. Salinas Neligh (2), Chaote, Sanchez.
Three-point goals: Live Oak Curley(2), Wright (2), Yeung, Wong, Conner. Salinas Neligh (2), Chaote, Sanchez.
