Before the Live Oak High boys basketball team began play in
Gilroy High
’s 24th annual Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament last week, Acorn
coach Brett Paolucci issued a challenge to his players.
Before the Live Oak High boys basketball team began play in Gilroy High’s 24th annual Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament last week, Acorn coach Brett Paolucci issued a challenge to his players.
As the tourney’s defending champions, he told them, they had a unique opportunity to carve their names into the event’s lore with a second straight title.
“I told them before the tournament that they would have to go into this wanting to win it all,” Paolucci said. “I threw out the challenge. I told them it was out there and they just had to take it.”
Three wins later, including a hard-fought 60-50 victory over North Monterey County in the championship game on Saturday, Live Oak earned the distinction of becom-ing back-to-back champs for the first time in recent tourney history.
“I don’t remember the last time someone won this tournament back-to-back,” th-year coach Paolucci said. “I’m really proud of them for the way they played.”
Last season, the Acorns beat host Gilroy for the tourney title.
Live Oak (8-1 overall) was led in the tourney by Most Valuable Player Joel Wright, the sharpshooting senior guard who scored a team-high 33 points in the Acorns‚ three wins.
Wright said the MVP award was nice but the tourney title was the biggest accomplishment.
“I’m just happy we won the tournament, that’s the most important thing,” Wright said.
Teammates Steve Conner, the bruising senior forward who had a team-high 16 points and nine rebounds in the tourney final, and junior guard Doug Porras were also named to the all-tourney team.
In the finale against a talented Condor team, Live Oak’s desire to win back-to-back titles as the Acorns had to dig deep to hold off a lengthy North County rally.
After scooting out to a 13-1 lead midway through the first quarter behind torrid shooting and a smothering defense, the Acorns led 19-10 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, NMC rallied behind a relentless attack on the offensive glass to pull within 26-22 late in the second quarter. Only a bucket by Conner and a long 3-pointer by Wright with just 31 seconds left in the half gave Live Oak some breathing room at 31-24 going into halftime.
But the Condors kept the pressure up in the third quarter behind nine points in the period from forward Ray Alvarez, who had a game-high 19, and pulled to within 41-40 with just 24 seconds left in the quarter.
But Wright again gave the Acorns some space with another 3-pointer with just six seconds left in the third for a 44-40 lead.
In the fourth quarter, NMC scored the first bucket to pull within two points but Live Oak answered with a 10-1 scoring run that put the Acorns up 54-43 with 3:25 to go and effectively put the game away. The Condors never got closer than nine points the rest of the way.
“It was about keeping our composure,” Paolucci said. “We didn’t get frustrated, which is good. Everything is not going to go our way and we have to go through our offense, which we did very well. We hit a lot of our options.”
Wright said the team’s determination held off the Condor rally.
“We just kept hustling,” he said. “And, we hit our shots.”
Once again, it was the Live Oak defense that led the way to victory. Despite giving up 50 in the finale, the Acorns surrendered an average of less than 40 points per game in the three-game tourney.
“I really praise our defense,” Paolucci said. “Going into the tourney, we knew we were going to face some teams that had some really great players. We keyed on those guys and it paid off. It was a real team concept.”
After beating Harbor 44-33 in its tourney opener on Thursday, Live Oak downed tourney host Gilroy 45-32 in the semifinals on Friday to advance to the finals.
Against Gilroy, the Acorns sprinted out to a 14-5 lead, led by seven points at halftime, then held the Mustangs to three points in the third quarter to expand their lead to 34-18 going into the final quarter. Wright had a game-high 17 points for the Acorns against the Mustangs.
North County advanced to the tourney final by beating Monterey 52-35 in its opener and spanking Aptos 55-38 in the semis.
In the tourney’s third-place game, Aptos beat Gilroy 51-43, and in the consolation final San Benito downed Harbor 69-60.
In addition to Wright, Conner and Porras, the all-tourney team included: North County’s Bell and Ray Alvarez, Aptos’ Kyle Worden, Gilroy’s Brandt Chacon and San Benito’s Kevin Zanella.
Live Oak is scheduled to host Piedmont Hills on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Note: In the junior varsity tournament at Gilroy High, Live Oak took third place with a 67-29 victory over North County on Saturday. Dustin Bynum had scored 16 and Kyle Mosbrucker added 12 for the Acorns in the win. Mosbrucker, who scored 47 points in three tourney games, was named all-tourney for Live Oak (8-2 overall).
The Acorns rebounded from a tough 46-31 loss to Gilroy in Friday’s semifinals to beat the Condors.
