Live Oak comes out flat in first round playoff game; seniors sad
to see season end
Aptos – Nobody expected the Live Oak Acorns boys basketball team to do very much this season. The Acorns, however had different designs and spent much of the season near the top the Tri-County Athletic League and earned a spot in the playoffs.
With their Central Coast Section Division II playoff run ended on Wednesday night in Aptos against the Aptos Mariners, the seniors on the Live Oak team are sad and frustrated to see the season end.
“I think coach put it right,” said senior forward Bobby Long. “He said that we made it really interesting, we weren’t supposed to do so well this season. It’s hitting some guys tonight that it’s over and what really stinks is is it hasn’t hit me yet. It’s going to tear me up a couple of months down the line when I have nothing to do.”
Live Oak’s senior guard, Micah Jones added, “We should have won some of the games we lost. I think people didn’t give us chance. I’m going to miss my teammates a lot, we’re a family. We’re really close.”
In Wednesday night’s, 62-47, loss to the Mariners, Live Oak had a hard time getting their shots to fall, while the Aptos shooters made the most of their first and second chance opportunities at the basket.
“We weren’t hitting our shots,” said Jones. “We just came out flat.”
Trailing by seven points at the half, 25-18, Live Oak kept the game relatively close until the end of the third quarter when Aptos started to pull away and opened up a double digit lead, 38-27.
The Mariners fans did their best to create a hostile environment for Live Oak, screaming out, “You suck!” anytime the Acorns brought the ball up court.
Senior Brandon Greene led the Acorns with 11 points in the loss and Long added 10 points for Live Oak.
“The last couple of games we really haven’t been on,” said Acorn coach Brett Paolucci. “This team has been one of my best 3-point shooting teams. We have a lot of weapons from the outside.”
In the fourth quarter the Mariners, led by Danny Lucas (16 points) outscored Live Oak 24-20 to put the game away and advance into the next round of CCS action.
“I think later in the game, early in the second half, we put a lot of effort in, but it seemed that we over did it,” said Long, who hopes to attend NYU, Cal Poly or UCLA. “That was frustrating, most frustrating now that it’ over. That first half of league we were in second place. We should have been in first, I think we only lost three games by double digits all season. They won’t be able to keep me out of the gym, I’ll be the towel boy, anything.”
Still the Acorns had a season they can be proud of as they surprised the naysayers and teams that underestimated them. From the start of league when they defeated a tough Palma Chieftains team, Live Oak proved they would be competitive. And compete they did, nearly taking out the undefeated Gilroy Mustangs in their first matchup of the season.
“It was a tremendous season,” said Paolucci. “I told those guys not to hang their heads. They’ve been on of my favorite teams all year. The seniors are going to be missed. And I’m really excited about next season.”
