The Lynbrook High School boys basketball team remained in contention for the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s El Camino Division title with a 66-56 victory over Fremont on Jan. 19.
Entering this week, Lynbrook had won six of its last seven games and held a 4-1 El Camino Division record and 9-8 overall mark.
“We’re, of course, happy to have the record we do,” said Lynbrook coach Richard Appler. “But, as a team, we’re still pushing for a game where we can put four great quarters together.”
Against Fremont, the Vikings decided the game on the strength of one outstanding quarter of play, blitzing the Firebirds 14-6 in the third period.
“At halftime, we knew our effort had to improve. Fremont was playing with much more energy than us,” noted Appler. “We made a few adjustments to how we were playing their top guys. Our focus is always to execute on the defensive end, and we were able to do that in the third quarter.”
Leading the way to victory for the Vikings were Andrew Destin, who registered a double-double of 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Tatsumi Eng, who poured in a game-high 20 points.
For Destin, it was his fourth consecutive double-double and his eighth of the season.
“Andrew works his tail off every time he takes the floor,” praised Appler. “He plays with his heart on his sleeve and it’s infectious to his teammates. He puts in a ton of work before and after practice every day.
“It wasn’t a great first half,” Appler said. “Fremont brought a lot of energy and forced us to make some mistakes. In the second half, we were able to find our bearings and take control. Shooting the ball well covers a lot of mistakes, though, and while it’s always nice to win, we still have plenty to work on.”
Fremont, which slipped to 1-5 in El Camino play after the loss to Lynbrook, was coming off of its first win of the league campaign two nights earlier when it beat the Monta Vista Matadors 48-18.
Krishna Gomatam recorded his second double-double of the season, scoring 19 points and gathering 10 rebounds, to help the Firebirds snap a six-game losing streak.
Amit Sharir produced 10 points and Leroy Duncan added nine for the Firebirds.
Monta Vista bounced back with a 59-45 victory over the Milpitas Trojans, ending a three-game losing skid.
Last week’s split left the Matadors at 2-3 in the El Camino Division and 7-10 overall entering this week.
In the SCVAL’s De Anza Division, the Cupertino Pioneers was at the .500 mark after splitting their two games last week. Cupertino dropped a 64-58 decision to Los Gatos before rebounding with a tight 43-40 win over Mountain View.
“All of the league games are important,” Cupertino coach Craig Ellegood said. “We’re hoping to finish with a good league record, which in turn should help with playoff seeding.”
Against Los Gatos, the Pioneers fell behind by 10 points, 22-12, at the end of the first quarter. But they battled their way back to take a three-point lead into the final quarter after outscoring the Wildcats 22-13 in the third period.
“Our play in the third quarter might have been the best stretch of play we have had all season,” said Ellegood.
Cupertino could manage only three points during the final four minutes of the game, however, as Los Gatos rallied to win.
“We seemed to tense up and could not make a shot against their 2-3 zone,” Ellegood said.
George Ellegood drilled in 15 points, sophomore Jack Townsend added 11, and both John Duan and Richard Yang scored nine for Cupertino.
The Pioneers had to survive a frantic fourth-quarter comeback bid by Mountain View to secure its win over the Spartans on Jan. 19.
Leading 36-26 entering the fourth quarter, the Pioneers were outscored 14-7 by the Spartans over the final eight minutes of the game and had to sweat out a potential game-tying three-point attempt in the closing seconds that missed its mark.
George Ellegood led Cupertino in scoring for the fourth straight game, firing in a game-high 17 points. He also had six rebounds and a pair of assists.
Meelad Danai finished the night with 10 points and eight rebounds to also play a key role in the win.
The Homestead Mustangs fell to 1-4 in the De Anza Division after losing to Palo Alto 56-43 and Los Altos 62-56 last week.
Homestead was hurt by its free-throw shooting in the loss to Los Altos, connecting on just seven of its 23 attempts at the line.
“That really hurt us,” said Homestead coach Shawn Hook.
Eric Sathy led the Mustangs in scoring in both losses, while Carson Chou, Josh Anderson and Eric Sonobe also played well.
