The Live Oak boys basketball team wrapped up its season on
Friday by defeating visiting Gilroy 58-42 and finished tied with
Hollister for second place in the Tri-County Athletic League.
The Live Oak boys basketball team wrapped up its season on Friday by defeating visiting Gilroy 58-42 and finished tied with Hollister for second place in the Tri-County Athletic League.
Both Live Oak and Hollister finished with 6-4 league records and finished with 20 wins, but Live Oak had only six losses – one less than Hollister. Salinas claimed the championship by going undefeated.
“Going into league we were 14-2 so I knew we had a real good shot of going after 20,” said Live Oak coach Brett Paolucci. “These guys are over achievers. They are a real focused team. They come in and practice hard. They want to get better and have gotten better. We could have had a much better record in league, but I am happy with how we finished in the top three.”
Live Oak, the No. 6 seed, received the home game that it craved and on Wednesday at 7 p.m. will play No. 11 Milpitas, who finished tied with three other teams for second in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
Milpitas is coming into the playoffs with a loss to front-runner Fremont.
If Live Oak (which is 6-1 this year at home) wins, it will face the winner of the No. 14 Monta Vista/ No. 3 Salinas on Saturday at 2:45 p.m. at Santa Clara High School.
Four of the six TCAL teams advance in the playoffs. In other Division 1 action, No. 10 St. Ignatius will play at No. 7 Hollister. Palma, the No. 9 seed in Division 4, will play at No. 8 Gunderson.
The Acorns (20-6, 6-4 TCAL) defeated the Mustangs (7-16, 1-9 TCAL) Friday for the third time this season, but as always, it wasn’t an easy task.
“They’re a team that won’t go away,” Paolucci said. “They just keep chipping and chipping away. They never give up all the way to the last buzzer. It was a down year for them, but I think they can bounce back. They hung in there which shows they have a lot of character.”
Live Oak got off to an early start, outscoring Gilroy 12-4 at the end of the first half. Gilroy got within four in the second quarter, but Live Oak was able to pull away and led 20-12 at the half.
Gilroy’s Brandt Chacon was the game’s leading scorer with 14 points including three treys. Drew Pearson and Steve Conner led Live Oak with 10 points.
At the end of the fourth quarter, Pearson capped off the win with a two-handed dunk that gained a round of applause from the audience. Miles Curley, who had nine points, had the only outside shot for the Acorns.
“We had an off night shooting,” said Paolucci. “We have had a lot of threes recently. But we played great defense. I’ve been stressing defense ever since summer, and they’ve really taken to that.”
In 26 games this season, Live Oak held its opponent to an average of 46 points per game, which, according to www.mbaypreps.com, leads not only the Tri-County Athletic League, but also the Mission Trail, Monterey Bay and Santa Cruz League as well.
Live Oak has had some tough losses in league, but is on a two-game winning streak going into the playoffs.
“They’ve worked through the thick and the thin especially midway through league when we were losing games,” Paolucci said. “But we were able to bounce back from it.”
The guards have really stepped up this year, Paolucci said. At the start of the season, Joel Wright was going to be the No. 2 guard. There was no one to fill that No. 1 spot, Paolucci said.
“Everyone has stayed positive,” Paolucci said. “We had a tough summer league, and one of our week points was our guards coming into the season. But all our guards have done a wonderful job handling pressure and keeping us in games.”
Another player who has stepped up recently and will be a big factor in a title run is Jeff Yeung.
“He’s been a backup point guard all season long, but he comes out and plays great defense,” Paolucci said. “And he has become an offensive threat as well. He’s progressed by leaps and bounds.”
The Acorns won’t have an easy task when they face Milpitas, which is led by CCS’s winningest coach Steve Cain. Cain has compiled 593 wins in his 24 years of coaching with Milpitas.
Cain said he will have to coach another year before retiring to reach the 600-win mark. The Acorns are hoping that mark will be seven games into the season and not any less.
“We want to disrupt their rhythm and play our game plan,” Cain said. “You’ll probably see a variety of defenses. I think we a very dangerous 13-12 team. We played some tough preseason games.”
“We can force the tempo defensively, but we are not a run-and-shoot team,” Cain added. “We like to go inside a lot, but we might have to do something different with their size.”
Milpitas has a couple of 6-foot-6 players which don’t start. Small forward Julian Conyers, who is about 6-foot-5, provides the Trojans with an inside and outside presence.
Center Jeff Kruskamv, who signed a Division 1 scholarship with Oregon State, is another player the Acorns will have to watch. Both teams met in the summer league.
“They got some size inside and have some quick guards so it will be a good game,” Paolucci said. “We will probably have a height advantage, but other than that it will be pretty even.
“We have to play really smart defense,” Paolucci added. “They do some high-low stuff into their posts. We have to do a good job by denying the post and with our help-side defense.”
