Acorn senior forward Braden Goodere hit a pair of free throws in
the closing moments, a last-second North Salinas 3-point attempt
fell short as time expired, and the Live Oak High boys basketball
team emerged with a 66-63 victory over the host Vikings in
Tri-County Athletic League play on Wednesday night.
Acorn senior forward Braden Goodere hit a pair of free throws in the closing moments, a last-second North Salinas 3-point attempt fell short as time expired, and the Live Oak High boys basketball team emerged with a 66-63 victory over the host Vikings in Tri-County Athletic League play on Wednesday night.
The victory improved the Acorns to 2-0 in league, good for a first-place tie in the TCAL with surprising Salinas, which beat Palma 46-44 Wednesday to also improve to 2-0 in league.
Live Oak (15-2 overall) hosts Salinas on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Acorns are currently ranked No. 13 in the Central Coast Section.
Against North Salinas, the Acorns led 29-26 at halftime and by a single point beginning the third quarter during a tight game in which neither team led by more than four points the entire way.
“Pretty much through-out the course of the game, both teams traded baskets,” Live Oak coach Brett Paolucci said. “One team would take a little bit of a lead and then the other would come back. It was really back and forth.”
According to Paolucci, the Acorns’ interior defense, led by the senior trio of Goodere, Steve Conner and Chris Deem, against North Salinas’ junior post players Marco Ramos and Eric Petty was the difference-maker.
“We really needed to step up our post defense because (the Vikings) have some great post players,” Paolucci said. “We wanted to get them in foul trouble early and force them to go to their bench, and we did that. Defensively, we played really good.”
Paolucci said North Salinas (12-7 overall, 1-1 in league) is indicative of the quality of most of the teams in the TCAL, which will provide a challenge every night out.
“We knew they were going to be good,” Paolucci said. “They have height, speed and athleticism. They’ll make some noise in league and we have to play them one more time. It will be tough.”
Live Oak had four players score in double figures and was led by junior guard Doug Porras, who scored 16 points, Conner with 15, senior guard Joel Wright with 14 and junior forward Matt van Keulen with 11.
Note: Live Oak’s home game against Palma, originally scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 31, will be played on Wednesday, Jan. 28 instead.
The game will be the second of back-to-back home night games for the Acorns.
