Lady Acorns, Bulldogs meet Thursday at Outdoor Sports Center
MORGAN HILL — It was not the outcome Brett Paolucci was hoping for to jump-start his second coaching stint with the Live Oak boys basketball team, but he could live with Tuesday’s one-point loss in overtime to Scotts Valley.
So could the fourth-year Acorns. They can count how many varsity wins they were a part of in the last two seasons with nine fingers.
“It’s really exciting right now. That’s a good thing,” senior guard Cody Galliziolli said after the 52-51 defeat in Live Oak Gym. “We need more confidence. We’re tired of losing, well, I’m tired of losing anyways. I think we need to stop putting our heads down when we make a mistake. We have a lot of games left.”
Galliziolli scored a dozen points for the Acorns, Dominic Leach added 14 rebounds to go with his 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting, and swingman Michael Schreiber netted 10 in the back-and-forth nonleague battle that had everything you would expect in a season opener.
The Falcons of the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League committed 24 turnovers to Live Oak’s 11, but the Acorns did little to capitalize. They missed open layups, blew defensive assignments and were gassed after an exciting third quarter.
Live Oak shot a frosty 30 percent from the field but, in the end, was one basket away from winning on opening night for the first time since its 2005-06 campaign –- the last one that included a Central Coast Section playoff berth. The Acorns’ final possession ended with Nathan Seifert’s open 3-point try that rimmed out at the buzzer.
“I couldn’t be more content,” said Paolucci, who coached Live Oak for eight years before stepping down in 2007. “It was the little things that killed us. … There’s a lot of things we need to work on, but it’s early on in the season. I’m really happy with the effort I saw tonight.”
The Acorns showed stark improvement from last season’s 7-18 team that struggled mightily to finish games. After Michael Adams’ layup pushed Scotts Valley ahead 28-24 in the third quarter, Live Oak went in front, 34-30, with a 10-2 scoring run that featured two put-back buckets by Leach and Galliziolli’s isolation drive to the net with 43 seconds remaining.
Leach, a 6-foot-3 senior center, shot 3 for 3 from the field during the period.
“He was big tonight,” said Galliziolli, who also totaled five steals and five rebounds.
Trailing 34-32 to start the fourth quarter, the Falcons retook momentum behind five of Blake Jurich’s team-high 15 points.
“We emphasized passing,” said Scotts Valley’s Randy Johnson, who was coaching his first game in 32 years. “They have great D and good hands, so we had to be careful. Once we started passing more, we found our rhythm.”
The Falcons put together an 8-2 run to lead 40-36, but the Acorns answered with back-to-back 3-pointers by Kevin O’Rourke and Galliziolli. After Adams dropped in a short jumper to make it 46-44, Seifert stole the ball and dished it to Galliziolli for a break-away layin with 28 seconds left, sending the game to overtime.
“Our defense is really good. We played great defense tonight, but we had a lot of little mistakes,” said Seifert, a transfer point guard from Bellarmine College Prep. “It felt like a first game.”
Galliziolli and Falcons guard Sam Gjerstad traded 3s to start the extra period before Seifert gave Live Oak a 51-50 lead with a midrange shot with two minutes left.
Jurich sank the tying and decisive free throws with 36 seconds remaining.
“We had a great look at the end, but you can’t blame a missed shot at the buzzer as the whole game. There’s several things we could have done differently.
“We need to learn how to win ballgames at the end. That is the key. We got to overtime; that’s a start.”
Adams, whose buzzer-beater tied the game -– 19-19 -– at halftime, finished with eight points and nine rebounds, and Nick Benyola scored 10 for Scotts Valley.
GIRLS BASKETBALL
MVC edges Live Oak
Behind tough defensive play, the undersized Lady Acorns hung in with Monte Vista Christian during a season-opening 32-27 loss Tuesday in Watsonville.
Although hampered by minor offensive mistakes, Live Oak received 13 points from Ariana Guerrero and six from Niki Patel.
Presentation overpowers Bulldogs
In a season premiere between teams that reached the CCS Division II tournament in 2009, Presentation pushed aside Sobrato, 71-28, Tuesday in San Jose.
The Panthers, a West Catholic Athletic League power, led 39-19 before unleashing 22 points in the third quarter.
Jessica Westall and Pryanka Kumar scored six points to lead the Bulldogs, and Courtney Sedlak added five.
GIRLS SOCCER
Morgan lifts Acorns to 1-0
Amanda Morgan’s goal in the 75th minute was the difference Tuesday, as Live Oak won its season opener 1-0 over San Benito.
Sophomore Megan Rauschnot was credited with an assist for the Acorns, who play rival Sobrato at 3:15 p.m. Thursday in the Outdoor Sports Center.
Cambra, Cisneros have big return
After sitting out the 2008-09 season with injury, Jennae Cambra picked up right where she left off from her 19-goal freshman year.
The Sobrato junior punctuated her return with hat trick Tuesday to help the Bulldogs outlast ‘A’-league Willow Glen, 4-3, in the season opener for both teams.
Sobrato’s Marissa Benjamin scored a goal and had two assists, matching teammate Janelle Cisneros who was another key loss to season-ending injury for the Bulldogs last winter.
