Acorns can’t continue scoring pace and drops pair in Milpitas
tourney
Milpitas – Two low scoring quarters doomed the Live Oak boys basketball team this weekend as the Acorns went 0-2 in the 24th annual Milpitas Classic tournament at Milpitas High.
On Friday, the Acorns lost to Leigh 69-46. Live Oak came out strong in the first quarter, scoring 22 points with seven coming from senior guard Jeff Mounteer.
After the game, Live Oak coach Brett Paolucci said he was surprised with his team’s offensive outburst in the opening quarter.
“That’s totally unheard of for us,” Paolucci said. “We came out really hard and got a quick lead on them.”
The Acorns went in to the second quarter leading the game 22-18, but couldn’t keep up with the fast-paced Longhorns’ offense.
Leigh senior forward Aaron Katayama led the Longhorns with eight points in the quarter, and his three-point shooting forced Live Oak to call a time out.
“We knew that going into the game that he was their shooter,” Paolucci said. “We had seen him before in a past tournament, so I had to waste a time out to remind them that he was their three-point shooter.”
The Longhorns’ defense caused the Acorns to turn over the ball and didn’t allow many good looks at the hoop. Leigh held Live Oak to three points in the quarter, while scoring 12.
Paolucci said turnovers and missed shots have been a problem for Live Oak during the season.
“Its an ongoing problem,” he said. “Every game we’ll go through scoring two or three points in a quarter. We miss easy baskets and our shot selection isn’t very good.”
Poor passing and fouls kept the Acorns from making a second-half comeback.
“I think it was a scrappy performance,” Paolucci said. “We’re committing a lot of unforced turnovers. They aren’t not being forced, its just bad decision-making. But we did a lot of good things on defense, double teaming them and caused some turnovers.”
The loss put the Acorns in the consolation game against host Milpitas on Saturday.
Milpitas came into the tournament looking for its second straight Milpitas Classic title, but the Trojans fell to Piedmont Hills 64-63 on Friday. They rebounding in time to hand Live Oak a 63-45 loss on Saturday.
As in their previous game, the Acorns couldn’t generate any offense in the second quarter to stay in the game.
Live Oak held a 15-13 lead over Milpitas after the first quarter, but scored four points in the second quarter and its scoring problems allowed Milpitas to pull away to end the half.
“I think we played hard,” Mounteer said after the game. “We’re just inconsistent right now. We need to get consistent so we can play hard every quarter and not have three-point quarters.”
Live Oak’s offense came alive late the game, as the Acorns poured in 21 points in the fourth.
Acorns junior forward Kyle Hennings scored eight points in the period and Live Oak’s scoring fury caused the Trojans to take time outs to regroup.
Paolucci hopes that the Acorns strong finish will give the team some motivation for their next game on Jan. 3 against Overfelt in the Blossom Valley Athletic League opener
“We’re hoping to take momentum into the next game and into practice to get ready for league,” Paolucci said.
