The ball rimmed around the cylinder for a few seconds, then went
down. Barn-burner over.
Hollister 51, Live Oak 49.
The ball rimmed around the cylinder for a few seconds, then went down. Barn-burner over.
Hollister 51, Live Oak 49.
The Balers’ Jeff Fajardo, who hadn’t tallied a digit the entire game, was every Baler fan’s instant hero Saturday afternoon at Mattson Gym when he willed in a 16-foot shot from the left corner as the buzzer sounded.
The Balers (15-3, 1-0), off to their best start in the history of the program, celebrated the stomach-churner at center court as head coach David Kaplansky set a personal best for a vertical leap.
“Jeff deserved that,” said a worn-out Kaplansky of his tri-captain. “He’s a great kid and plays hard. It was a college atmosphere out there with all of these fans. This game was great for the program, a program which is on the rise.”
“Whew! It was an exciting game to play in,” said Baler forward Kyle Sharp, who had a game-high 20 points, eight rebounds and four blocks. “I was standing right underneath the basket, hoping the ball would go in. I almost passed out.”
Everyone in attendance nearly passed out at some juncture during the game, which surely had to be one for the Mattson Gym annals as far as excitement from start to finish. And this was only the first of 10 games in the no-cupcake Tri-County Athletic League. Check your cardio upon leaving.
“Every game in this league is going to go down to the wire,” said Live Oak coach Brett Paolucci, whose club is now 14-3, 0-1. “I told my team that no team is going to go undefeated in this league. We just didn’t do the little things to win. We had missed putbacks and missed free throws.”
Neither team distinguished itself from the free throw line. The Acorns were 4 of 10 while the Balers fared worse with a 5-13 effort. And the Balers had their share of missed cripples, though a lot of that had to do with the Acorns’ length, which can alter shots in the interior against any team in the Central Coast Section.
The Balers were colder than an Eskimo’s undergarment in the first part of the game as the Acorns went up 5-0 on a three-pointer by Joel Wright. Hollister didn’t score until Anthony Butler banked one in with 3:51 left in the period.
Broc Sondgroth, who played an integral role in the Balers’ victory with sheer hustle, stole the ball right before the end of the first quarter and scored on a circus layin to put Hollister up 9-7.
Sharp, who was blanked in the first quarter, got more involved in the offense in the second frame. He scored five field goals with his last a buzzer follow shot off his own miss to put the Balers up one digit at the half.
Butler scored early in the third and the Balers were up by three. The lead didn’t last long. The Acorns went on a 9-2 run, but the Balers countered quickly as the momentum swung back and forth.
Sophomore Jason Sims, who had his best game of the year, dished nicely to Sondgroth for a bucket with 55 seconds left for a 38-36 Baler lead. With the clock running down in the period, Kaplansky called for a “clear out” for Sharp, who was holding the ball at the top of the key. Sharp drove the lane, pulled up over a defender and knocked down a 10-footer with five seconds left in the quarter.
“Everything goes through (Sharp),” said Paolucci. “We knew that going in, but we couldn’t stop it.”
The Balers’ four-point margin evaporated in a hurry as Miles Curley banked in a three to tie the score 43-43. Curley then stole the ball on the defensive end, drove the length of the court and scored and suddenly Live Oak led by two.
Sophomore Eric Davis, who has been learning on the job this year at the point for the Balers, drained the biggest shot of his embryonic career when he nailed a three-pointer to put the home team up 46-45 with a little over four minutes remaining.
Both teams felt the pressure down the stretch as shots wouldn’t fall and defenses clamped down, causing turnovers. The Balers ended up with a rebound after the Acorns missed a couple of chances to go ahead with less than 15 seconds to go. Davis pushed the ball up to Fajardo, who set himself and eyeballed the shot just enough for it to go in.
“I had confidence in my three sophomores,” said Kaplansky. “I didn’t use my last timeout.”
Heaven forbid. This one might have gone overtime.
Baler bits: Danny Brooks played well for the Balers and had 10 points while making good decisions. – Butler shaved his head of hair before the game, sporting a new look. “Curly” led the Acorns with 12 points and had six rebounds. Maciek Bratkowski, a 6-10 transfer from Poland, had 11 points for the Acorns and had a team-high eight rebounds. – These two teams meet again at Live Oak Feb. 6 and could possibly meet once more in the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs. – The Balers are at Gilroy on Wednesday.
JV score: Live Oak 41, Hollister 35.
Frosh score: The Baler freshmen won by 20 points.
Live Oak 7 18 11 13 – 49
Hollister 9 17 14 11 – 51
LO – Bratkowski 5 1-4 11, Curley 5 1-3 12, Wright 4 0-0 10, Chappell 1 0-0 2, Deem 2 0-0 4, Conner 2 0-0 4, Moquin 2 2-3 6. Totals 21 4-10 49.
H – Sharp 9 2-6 20, Butler 2 1-2 5, Sondgroth 4 2-5 11, Brooks 5 0-0 10, Davis 1 0-0 3, Fajardo 1 0-0 2. Totals 22 5-13 51.
3-point goals: Curley, Wright 2 (LO); Sondgroth, Davis (H).
