With a little flair for the dramatic, the Live Oak boys basketball team earned its second win of the season, knocking off Yerba Buena 57-52 Thursday night.
The Acorns (2-3) used a 21-point fourth quarter to keep the Aztec Warriors at bay and to overcome 25 turnovers.
“There was that one run during that fourth quarter, they were extending that zone, looking to attack,” said coach Brett Paolucci. “Ryan Rupp did an awesome job of using the dribble, to attack (the zone). It’s something we worked on this week. We worked on dribbling and dribbling on two on one and Ryan, man, I’m glad I did.”
The point guard successfully found the soft spots in the zone and attacked the trap with deadly effect.
Paolucci praised him for being smart about where he went with the ball and finding the open man.
The result was hitting Cole Griffin who was open in the post, leading to eight of Griffin’s 10 points for the game.
In turn, that opened up Tanner Howard who had seven points in the final frame to finish with 13 for the night.
“He was a magnificent spark off the bench,” Paolucci said. “I’ve never seen him play out of his mind like that. He made great moves to the basket. He made the right decisions. He was getting rebounds, it was great.”
Paolucci said he is extremely happy to have a deep bench when it comes to post players.
“It’s great. Josh (Carvalho) and Justin Baker are playing great. Pat (McLaughlin) is a big presence inside. Kalem (Bergstrom) is a three-year varsity player. Cole who played a lot last year. (And) Connor taking on a senior role and good minutes and productive minutes, that was huge,” Paolucci said.
Luke Laguna got into the mix, hitting four free throws to finish with a team-leading 19 points.
Each point proved crucial as the Acorns couldn’t maintain their run to put the game away. Twice they went up by nine points, but twice Yerba Buena pulled to within three.
“They had some success with (the trap) in beating (Rupp’s attack), but we called timeout and settled down,” Paolucci said. “That’s another thing I was happy about, in how we kept our composure. Usually in those situations like that, we’re turning the ball over.”
Live Oak also benefitted from a strong presence underneath the basket by the entire team. Ten players had at least one rebound and four of them had more than five.
Howard and Josh Carvalho led with seven boards, followed by Laguna and Justin Baker with six.
“That’s got to be a mentality that if the other team shoots and they miss, that automatically becomes our ball,” Paolucci said. “It’s a mentality they have to have and it’s something we’ve been working on a lot.”
Both teams came out strong, with neither side able to take control in the first half. Laguna hit a 3-pointer at the end of the half to give Live Oak a 28-24 lead at the break. It was the largest lead held by either team to that point.
After falling behind 13-12 at the end of the first quarter, Live Oak rattled off 16 points in the second, led Connor Rounds, who had six points. That was supplemented by Laguna hitting a pair of treys and Baker adding four points.
In the third quarter, Live Oak’s shooting went cold, putting up eight points.
Meanwhile, the Aztecs capitalized on nine Acorn turnovers for 13 points, led by Marcus Tran with nine points.
“We just need to keep building those leads and build on those, instead of letting teams come back,” Paolucci said. “It’s one little thing. It could be one little thing that the other team always seems to capitalize on.”
Live Oak will hit the road 7 p.m. Tuesday to Mt. Pleasant before traveling to Gilroy for the Bob Hagen Tournament Thursday where the Acorns open against Oakwood.
