Live Oak awaits tomorrow’s seeding meeting; Sobrato’s season
done
Morgan Hill – The Live Oak Acorns boys basketball team awaits the results of tomorrow’s Central Coast Section seeding meeting to find out who they will be facing in the first round of the playoffs either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. While the Sobrato Bulldogs ended their season.
The Acorns took on the Salinas Cowboys last night in Salinas and the Sobrato Bulldogs hosted the Gilroy Mustangs in the final Tri-County Athletic League games of the season.
Live Oak fell in a nailbiter to the Cowboys, 54-53, on two free throw with no time on the clock. According to Live Oak coach Brett Paolucci, it was the mirror image of the Acorns’ first game against Gilroy. Down 11 points at halftime, Live Oak fought back and took over the lead late in the fourth quarter. An offensive foul with no time left on the clock gave the Cowboys two free shots, trailing 53-52. Salinas converted both free throws for the one point victory.
Sobrato dropped its final game to the Mustangs, 62-49. Marqus Crawford led the Bulldogs with 17 points and four steals and Mubarik Abdullahi added 12 points, five assists, four rebounds and three steals.
On Wednesday night the Acorns hosted their final home game of the season in a rematch with the Bulldogs. Live Oak defeated Sobrato, 61-37, on senior night at Live Oak.
“It was a great team win,” said Acorn forward Brandon Greene. “A great way to go out as seniors. We started off alright, then in the second half we started to play good defense and hit some shots.”
“It’s pretty big, probably the best win we’ve had all year. No we’re going to have to go down to Salinas with the same game plan and shut down their big man,” added Greene.
Greene led Live Oak with 18 points, including four 3-pointers, six rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block in the win, while teammate Micah Jones recorded a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Jones also had four assists and three steals for the Acorns.
Live Oak forward Dustin Bynum contributed 10 points, eight rebounds and one block.
“At first we weren’t playing defense, we weren’t getting back on transition,” said Bynum. “Then we started getting the ball up and we shot well from the floor.”
The Bulldogs kept with Live Oak through the first half of play and went into halftime trailing 26-25. Sobrato, however, experienced a second half meltdown, scoring just 12 points to the Acorns 35.
“We shot extremely bad,” said Sobrato guard Marqus Crawford. “We just gotta bounce back and not be scared to shoot.”
“Only 12 points in the second half, that was horrible,” added Bulldog guard Mubarik Abdullahi.
Abdullahi led Sobrato with 16 points, three rebounds and two assists. Crawford and Mark Garma each had six points for the Bulldogs in the loss.
“We played the first half as if we were serious about playing basketball,” said Sobrato coach Lawrence Crawford. “In the second half it just all went down the tubes. There wasn’t much that we did that made it look like we wanted to be successful.”
The Live Oak defense held the Bulldogs to just three points in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.
“I’m just really happy for the seniors. They all showed up to play,” said Acorn coach Brett Paolucci. “We played a complete game on offense and defense. We just have to carry the momentum into the game against Salinas.”
