Facing elimination, the Live Oak High boys basketball team
stepped up and beat Leigh 55-43 yesterday to advance to the
consolation finals at Los Gatos High
’s Wildcat Shoot-Out. After losing to Pioneer 44-39 in their
tourney opener the night before, the Acorns were in a must-win
situation. The Acorns play Willow Glen for the consolation title
today at 3:30pm at Los Gatos High. It would be LO’s second straight
Wildcat Shoot-Out consolation trophy.
Facing elimination, the Live Oak High boys basketball team stepped up and beat Leigh 55-43 yesterday to advance to the consolation finals at Los Gatos High’s Wildcat Shoot-Out.
After losing to Pioneer 44-39 in their tourney opener the night before, the Acorns were in a must-win situation.
The Acorns play Willow Glen for the consolation title today at 3:30pm at Los Gatos High. It would be LO’s second straight Wildcat Shoot-Out consolation trophy.
Friday, the Acorns led the entire way but Leigh kept pace with them.
Live Oak’s offense scored in waves, usually following a Longhorn rally.
Leading the way for the Acorns was senior Jordan Racz, who scored a team-high 12 points. On his heels was senior Matt van Keulen with 11 points and nine rebounds.
In the first quarter, after Leigh scored five straight points, the Acorns went on a 10-0 run to take a 14-8 lead after one quarter of play.
The Longhorns battled back in the second quarter, pulling within one, but then Live Oak’s shots began to fall and the Acorns took a 28-18 lead at the half.
In the third quarter, Leigh’s offense once again cut deep into the Acorn lead as the Longhorns went on a 10-3 scoring run to pull within three.
But when Live Oak needed it the most, van Keulen sank a trio of three-pointers as the Acorns rallied to take a 44-34 lead.
In the fourth quarter, the Longhorns were finished. The Acorn defense held Leigh scoreless for three minutes and to only nine points in the entire quarter.
Live Oak’s offense was stagnant as well, but managed to etch out 11 points for the final score of 55-43.
The Acorn defense was the constant. The entire team played tough the entire night forcing several turnovers.
Van Keulen said the team was told its defense needed to step up to win the game.
“(Coach Brett) Paolucci told us the defense was the key,” he said. “If we were going to win, we not only had to come out and play offense, but make things happen on defense and force turnovers.”
Paolucci said after the game he was proud of his team, especially how the players didn’t fall apart when Leigh threatened to come back.
“You have to keep your composure when things like that happen,” Paolucci said. “They had to keep a clean head and keep playing.”
LO boys soccer
For the second year in a row, the Live Oak High boys soccer team has advanced to the Homestead Christmas Cup quarterfinals.
The Acorns qualified for the tourney’s final eight by pounding Lynbrook 6-0 in its final pool play match on Wednesday. LO will play its q-final match on Saturday, Dec. 18 against an opponent to be determined.
A day earlier, LO had routed host Wilcox 5-0.
“Things are clicking,” LO coach Tony Goble said. “We have a good unit out there. We’re playing very good team defense, and we have a lot of offensive weapons.”
Against Lynbrook, Garrett Frechette, Anthony Razouk and Anthony Avalos each scored two goals.
At Wilcox, Frechette tallied three goals in the first 15 minutes before being taken out of the match for good. Freshman Casey Mott added a pair of goals for LO.
LO girls basketball
Riding its biggest offensive explosion of the season, the Live Oak High girls basketball team advanced to the consolation finals of the Monta Vista Tournament with a 58-49 victory over Pioneer yesterday. LO plays South San Francisco for the consolation trophy at noon today at Monta Vista High in Cupertino.
LO’s Ana Curley led the way with 15 points and the “whole team picked it up a notch,” Coach Jeff Perkins said.
In its tourney opener on Thursday, the Acorns lost to Scotts Valley 49-44 but showed a glimpse of their offensive potential by scoring 31 points in the second half. Megan Gulla scored 11 points for LO, and a total of nine Acorn players scored in the game.
Earlier in the week, Live Oak dropped a 35-26 decision to visiting Monterey on Wednesday. The Acorns hit just six of their 39 shots in the game.
