Mid-week action provided some tense moments across the Central Coast Section, and also set up some key match-ups heading towards Friday and the weekend.
Saratoga outlasts Lynbrook in El Camino division battle
In a battle to keep pace with Mountain View in the SCVAL-El Camino, Saratoga held off a furious fourth-quarter rally from Lynbrook, then outscored the Vikings in overtime to emerge with a 74-72 victory.
Lynbrook had four players in double figures, led by junior Andrew Chang’s 18 points, and outscored the Falcons 22-13 in the fourth quarter, but Saratoga responded with 17 points in the five-minute overtime period to pull out the win.
Saratoga and Mountain View each have two losses in the El Camino division, and meet each other on February 10.
Paly escapes Los Altos in double OT
The fifth-ranked team in the CCS, Palo Alto, needed every resource it could muster in a 66-61 double overtime victory over Los Altos, to stay unbeaten in the SCVAL-De Anza.
The Los Altos defense came up big in the fourth quarter, holding the Vikings to just seven points in the quarter, enabling the Eagles to rally and tie the game at 53. Each team only scored four points in the first overtime period, but Palo Alto got to the free throw line for 12 attempts in the second overtime, hitting nine of the charity-stripe shots for the victory.
Spencer Rojahn led the Vikings with 19 points, including four three-pointers. As a team, Palo Alto hit 10 shots from beyond the arc, including three more from Jared Wulbrun. Rojahn was also disruptive defensively, with five steals.
Los Altos outscored the Vikings 18-7 in the fourth quarter, led by eight points from Luke Enthoven, who finished the game with 17 points. Matt Eberle led the Eagles with 19 points, including three of Los Altos’ four three-pointers in the game.
Palo Alto now holds a three-game lead in league play, while Los Altos fell into a tie at the bottom of the standings with Gunn.
Top-ranked Bells survive the Irish
A late three-pointer from Sacred Heart Cathedral forced overtime in the Fighting Irish’s game with CCS top-ranked Bellarmine, who is unbeaten in the WCAL, but the Bells won going away in the extra period, 61-50.
This type of game was not expected between a Bellarmine team sitting at the top of the league standings, and a Sacred Heart team tied with Riordan at the bottom, but the Irish outscored the Bells 16-11 in the third quarter to tie the game, and the teams stayed even through the final eight minutes of regulation.
Menlo-Atherton, Sequoia set up PAL-South showdown
Sequoia followed up its big win over Menlo-Atherton with a 65-38 win over Mills, setting up a winner-take-all game this Friday for the league lead, at Menlo-Atherton.
N’Jai LeBlanc, Jr. had 20 points for the Cherokee in the win over Mills, while Matt Bolanos chipped in with 15 points and junior Jonathan Heist added 10 points.
Menlo-Atherton got 12 points from James Beckwith in its 59-37 win over Burlingame, while Logan Faberowski added 10 points and Eric Norton chipped in with nine points, in limited playing time.
Carmel edges past Stevenson for second in the MTAL
Carmel grabbed sole possession of second place in the Mission Trail Athletic League, by virtue of its 56-53 win over Stevenson. The Padres bolted to a 31-23 lead at the half, then held off a strong third quarter by the Pirates to emerge with the three-point win.
They now sit a game behind Pacific Grove for the league lead, with five games remaining. That includes a meeting with the Breakers on February 7.
