Live Oak lost 51-49 as Hollister’s Jeff Fajardo hit a buzzer
beater just inside the left three-point line.
If fans were lucky enough to find seats or parking at Mattson Gym Saturday, they would have witnessed a game only fitting for two of the best teams in not only the league but also the section.
Live Oak lost 51-49 as Hollister’s Jeff Fajardo hit a buzzer beater just inside the left three-point line.
The Acorns were down by five early in the fourth quarter. With 1:05 left in the game, Miles Curley had a chance to tie the score as he made a nice move to get into the post on a pass from Steve Connor. Curley’s shot banked off the rim and out.
After Hollister’s Kyle Sharp missed a pair of free throws with 17.1 seconds left, Live Oak called a timeout to setup what it hoped to be the final play. Curley received the inbounds outlet pass, one of the Acorns favorite options, and finished it to tie the score with seven seconds left.
“I thought they were going to fall back into a man-to-man,” Live Oak coach Brett Paolucci said. “I was going for a last-second play. When that presented itself right there, we know what to do.”
“It came down to a lot of little things -putbacks, allowing second chances off free throws and free throws,” Paolucci added.
Live Oak was 4-for-10 at the line, and the Balers were 5-for-13. In a high intensity game, the lead switched hands 11 times, and neither team led by more than six, which Live Oak held in the third quarter.
Joel Wright hit a three-pointer and had a basket on an outlet pass from Steve Conner to start the game with a 5-0 run, but no cushion was good enough.
“It was a game that could have gone either,” Paolucci said. “I am sure they know that too. Hollister played hard and did everything we’ve expected them to do and prepared for.”
The Balers attempted several outside shots early by guards Eric Davis and Brac Sondgroth. Although each player had dumped in a three, Live Oak was able to shut down the outside. But that forced the Balers to go inside more.
“I felt that playing a big team if we could open up the perimeter, we could open up the post,” said Baler coach David Kaplansky. “We weren’t making the parimeter shots, so we had to rely on the post, which is our strenght.”
The Balers tried to hustle a little more in the second meeting of the two teams, Kaplansky said.
“They were very similar games,” Kaplansky said. “We tried to push the ball up the court a little more. In the first half, we were able to get some transition buckets. We tried to get the big guys caught up in the full-court game. The second quarter becomes a dog fight.”
Live Oak held Sharp scoreless in the first half. But the sophomore, one of three on the Balers, came alive in the final three quarrters, scoring a game-high of 20 points.
“They run everything through him,” Paolucci said. “We knew that he is good ball player. He has a good outside shot and follows everything. That was their main man. We knew that coming in, but he still got his.”
Miles Curley had 12 points and six boards for Live Oak, and Maciek Bratkowski dumped in 11 and had a team-high of 10 rebounds.
“We had a comfortable lead before halftime, but they got right back into it with second-chance shots.” Paolucci said. “It was back and forth. There were a lot of momentum swings throughout that game. No one was really able to grasp it and go with it, which makes for a very long game from the coaches standpoint.”
The Balers and the Acorns will meet at least one more time in what may be a Division 1 Central Coast Section playoff preview. Live Oak will play North Salinas Wednesday at home.
“They definitely give us a lot of print for being big and tall, but there is a lot of other things that go along with that,” Paolucci said. “Hollister is also a big team, and they battle. We’re a marked team, because everyone picked us to win league. We got to go in and defend what they say.”
JV note: The Live Oak JV team pulled away from San Benito in the final quarter to win 51-43. Doug Porras had 13 points, including two three-pointers. Andrew Cummins had nine, and Jordan Racz had seven points.
