With Tri County Athletic League play slated to begin next week,
the Live Oak boy’s basketball team appears poised to make a run at
the first Tri-County Athletic League title.
With Tri County Athletic League play slated to begin next week, the Live Oak boy’s basketball team appears poised to make a run at the first Tri-County Athletic League title.
On Tuesday night in Morgan Hill, the 14-2 Acorns wrapped up the non-league portion of their schedule by picking up another impressive win. This time it was a 72-64 victory over their former Monterey Bay League opponents, the Monterey Toreadors.
Next Saturday, the Acorns begin the second half of their season when they travel to San Benito High School. Like the Acorns, the Balers are dominating and have a 14-2 record heading into league action.
One of those Baler losses, however, was a 59-54 squeaker against the Live Oak at the Bob Hagen Memorial Tournament at Gilroy High in December.
Live Oak Coach Brett Paolucci knows that it won’t be easy getting past the Balers.
“They come in with a lot of intensity,” he said. “They’re competitive and they’ll be fired up to be at home.”
They’ll need to be fired up to come away with a win against the Acorns, currently ranked 13th in the CCS.
On Tuesday night, the Acorns-despite Monterey’s aggressive play-controlled the game from the opening tip. After a nip-and-tuck first quarter, the Acorns held a slim 19-15 lead, but never relinquished.
In the second quarter, Live Oak put the nail in Monterey’s coffin by outscoring the Toreadors 21-8. The Acorns used a full-court press that resulted easy transition lay-ups that allowed the Acorns to pull out in front. The result was a commanding 40-23 halftime lead.
The Acorns were able to put the game out of reach thanks to their superior size, which proved vital on the boards as the Acorns kept getting second chances on offense and were able to rip down errant shots by Monterey on defense.
“We played real well in the first half,” said Paolucci.
But in the second half, things weren’t so rosy as Monterey began clawing its way back. In the second half the Toreadors outscored Live Oak 41-32.
“In the second half, they drew a lot of fouls underneath,” said Paolucci. “They kept chipping away at the free throw line. But we kept our cool.”
Leading the way for the Acorns were Miles Curley and Steven Conner. Curley scored 30 points and Conner had another13-a season high.
Paolucci was pleased with the play of both players.
“Miles was attacking the basket aggressively, and he also scored on a lot of offensive rebounds.”
Curley was also instrumental at the line, hitting 10-of-12 free throws.
The Toreadors may have made a better run at a win had Yesuf Smith, a 6-foot-7 forward, not gotten into foul trouble early.
“Monterey is a very athletic team. I was surprised by their size and speed,” said Paolucci. “But we hung in there and got the win-no big mistakes.”
The Acorns’ leading scorer this season, Maciek Bratkowski, scored six points in the winning effort. Acorn forward Scott Moquim scored eight points and had a solid defense outing Tuesday.
“He was just real solid for us all around and did real well on the boards,” said Paolucci of Moquim’s efforts.
Tip off for next week’s game in Hollister is 7 p.m.
