For most of the first half of Friday night
’s Bob Hagen Tournament semifinal game against league rival
Hollister-San Benito at Gilroy High, everything went right for the
Live Oak High boys basketball team. Then, for most of the second
half, almost nothing did. “It was a tale of two different halves,
definitely,” LO coach Brett Paolucci
said. “We played well in the first half and in the second half
we didn’t. (In the second half, Hollister-San Benito) extended
their zone and we didn’t handle the ball.” Despite leading by as
much as eight points in the first half, the Acorns fell prey to a
furious Haybaler rally in the seco
nd half en route to a 56-45 loss.
For most of the first half of Friday night’s Bob Hagen Tournament semifinal game against league rival Hollister-San Benito at Gilroy High, everything went right for the Live Oak High boys basketball team. Then, for most of the second half, almost nothing did.
“It was a tale of two different halves, definitely,” LO coach Brett Paolucci said. “We played well in the first half and in the second half we didn’t. (In the second half, Hollister-San Benito) extended their zone and we didn’t handle the ball.”
Despite leading by as much as eight points in the first half, the Acorns fell prey to a furious Haybaler rally in the second half en route to a 56-45 loss.
LO (5-3 overall) had won the previous two Bob Hagen tourneys but will have to settle for a shot at third-place at 12:30pm today against Harbor. The Acorns advanced to Friday’s semifinal after beating North Monterey County 55-48 Hollister-San Benito and Monterey play for the tourney title at 2pm. Gilroy plays Aptos for the consolation title at 11am.
In the first half of Friday’s game, the Acorns did a fine job of fronting high-scoring Baler forward Kyle Sharp with the athletic Brandon Powell on defense. Even though Sharp scored 11 of his game-high 22 points in the first half, no other Balers stepped up to compliment his efforts.
In the second half, though, Baler center Kevin Jones began to find his stride, pumping in 12 of his 16 points in the frame as Hollister-San Benito dominated the paint.
Powell scored a game-high 10 points for LO.
Against North County, Matt van Keulen scored 21 points and Kevin Toombs added 14. Van Keulen is coming off a Wildcat Shoot-Out last week in which he was named all-tourney and led the Acorns to the consolation title.
