Santa Clara, Wilcox teams excel this season
Squads battle for El Camino title
While the boys basketball championship of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s El Camino Division may not be decided until the final night of the regular season, one thing is for certain — the Santa Clara Bruins and Wilcox Chargers have qualified for the Central Coast Section playoffs.
Whether the two teams enter the Central Coast Section playoffs as champions, co-champs or runners-up will be determined over the next four days when they conclude their respective regular seasons.
The Bruins, who forced a tie for the division lead on Feb. 5 with a 62-58 triumph over Wilcox, wrap up their SCVAL schedule Friday night at home with a 7:45 p.m. contest against the feisty Gunn Titans.
The Chargers, who are attempting to capture at least a share of the El Camino championship for the second year in a row, conclude their regular-season slate on Feb. 18 against the host Lynbrook Vikings in a 7 p.m. game.
Santa Clara will have its hands full with Gunn after barely squeaking by the Titans 53-50 on Jan. 24.
“We missed 23 free throws the last time we played them,” said longtime Santa Clara coach Tony Mcgilvery on Saturday. “I don’t expect that to happen again.”
Santa Clara put itself in position to capture a league title, its first since sharing the El Camino crown with Saratoga in 2012, by virtue of its clutch win over Wilcox last week.
Jack Fukuda scored 14 points and Jiohvani Toledo added 10, while Harry Nauci pulled down 15 rebounds and junior varsity call-up Josh Bayog dished out five assists to spark the Bruins to victory. It avenged a 49-45 loss to Wilcox earlier in the season.
“We changed everything from the first game,” Mcgilvery said. “We wanted to avoid Wilcox’s (defensive) pressure, so we put in a whole new offense specifically to counter their traps in the half-court. This allowed us lanes to attack the basket, which we did for most of the game.”
Brendon Yi, a first-team all-el Camino pick last year, poured in a game-high 18 points for the Chargers. Senior guard Prat Sharma chipped in with 11 points and seven rebounds.
After trailing by as many as 20 points in the third quarter, Wilcox cut Santa Clara’s lead to two points late in the fourth quarter, but could never overtake the Bruins.
“We missed too many opportunities to take charge,”
Wilcox coach Robert Toloy said. “We battled back only to commit a key turnover on a possession that would have allowed us to tie or go up by a point with less than two minutes to go.”
Santa Clara, which entered this week with a 15-5 overall record to qualify for its ninth straight trip to the CCS playoffs, followed up its critical win over the Chargers with a 65-41 victory over Lynbrook on Feb. 7.
Fukuda again led the way with 20 points, and Nauci contributed 17 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
It marked Santa Clara’s sixth win in its last seven outings, and the 12th in its last 14.
“Our defense was the key as always,” Mcgilvery said. “Our defense is always the key. We have the largest point differential in our league. We have scored the most points and given up the fewest of any team.”
Wilcox rebounded from its loss to Santa Clara by disposing of the Monta Vista Matadors 53-44 behind a game-high 16 points from junior guard Isaiah Frazier.
Elsewhere in the El Camino Division, Fremont, after evening its record at 4-4 with a 44-43 win over Lynbrook, slipped back below the .500 mark following a 57-44 loss to Gunn.
In the De Anza Division, Homestead split its two games last week, beating Los Gatos 51-41, but losing to first-place Palo Alto 47-33.
The Mustangs, who came into this week with a 12-10 overall record, have their game before the start of the CCS playoffs when they visit the Milpitas Trojans for a 7 p.m. game tonight.
“We already know we’ve qualified for CCS, so we’re focusing on getting better every day” said coach Matt Wright. “We don’t care about our seeding because we have the utmost confidence that we will make an impact in these playoffs no matter who or where we play.”
For nearly three quarters last Friday night, the Mustangs showed they could compete with powerful Palo Alto before a cold shooting stretch led to their sixth loss in 10 league outings.
With three minutes to go in the third quarter, the
Mustangs trailed the Vikings by just three points.
“A series of turnovers and misses at the rim in those final moments (of the third quarter) allowed Palo Alto to pull away,” Wright said. “I felt we played really good transition defense when we scored and pressed, but the lack of scoring in the second half allowed Palo Alto to come down and run sets that took advantage of their size inside. We just got out-muscled at the rim in terms of defense in the post and the ability to grab rebounds.”
Senior guard Alex Harris was a bright spot in the loss, pouring in a game-high 21 points.
In their win over Los Gatos, which avenged an earlier 46-38 loss to the Wildcats, the Mustangs were sparked by Brian Sathy’s 13 points and Harris’ 11 points, six rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot. Daniel Brathwaite chipped in with 10 points, nine rebounds and a pair of blocks.
“Sathy did a great job of filling in for our usual starting guard, Amit Dunevich,” Wright said. Dunevich was sidelined by a fractured elbow, suffered in a game against Mountain View on Jan. 22.
Cupertino leveled its season record at 11-11 with a 48-46 win over Los Altos behind Jack Townsend’s 18-point performance.
“We played one of our better games of the season,” Cupertino coach Craig Ellegood said. “We maintained our composure, played with good energy, shot the ball well, and