Boys basketball CCS hopes dwindle with loss to Lynbrook

The Falcons, who stand 2-5 in league and 9-12 overall, sustained a devastating league loss to Lynbrook at home on Feb. 6 With less than a month left in the regular season, the team has dropped six of its last seven games and fallen to fifth in the El Camino league.

The team’s prospects of making CCS remain low as they enter the last stretch of the season. Lynbrook is undefeated at the top of the league with a 7-1 record and must lose the rest of its games for the Falcons to even have a shot at their playoff dreams.

“I definitely want to make playoffs; that’s what I want the most,” said senior guard Ryan Pak. “But during these last couple of losses, we forgot how good we actually were.”

Pak said the losses are difficult to swallow because he believes the team has the potential to win league, but simply “lacks confidence.”

“Honestly, I feel we are the best team in the league, so we should win,” said Pak. “Talent-wise, we’re probably [at the top], but it’s just a matter of us playing to our best.”

After losing 61-55 to Lynbrook back in December, The Falcons played a rematch against the Vikings at home on Feb. 6, hoping to win a key league game and increase their chances of making playoffs. The Falcons let the Vikings score 26 points in the first quarter while only putting up 12 points themselves. They put up a huge defensive stand in the second quarter limiting the Vikings to only 4 points.

Strong offense by senior guard Owen Huang and junior guard Daniel Chou who each scored 10 points in the game helped the Falcons catch up to the Vikings and tie the game 41-41 going into the fourth quarter. The Falcons, however, were held to only four points in the last 12 minutes and ended up losing 52-45.

“Against a quality team like Lynbrook we can’t afford to have a 1st quarter like that,” said coach Trevor Naas. “But our guys did a great job to fight back and put us in a position to win the game in the fourth quarter and proved that we are capable of playing with the best team in our league; we just weren’t able to get over the hump and get the win.”

Prior to playing Lynbrook, the team played a league game against the 10-10 Homestead Mustangs on Feb. 3. Huang and senior forward Alvin Hsia led the team with 12 points each. Chou contributed 9 points of three three-pointers. But despite a strong offensive performance, the Falcons lost 65-56.

On Jan. 27, the Falcons played the Monta Vista Matadors. They had a seven-point lead going into the second half, but weren’t able to maintain that lead against a strong fourth quarter Matador run and ended up losing 65-71. Pak led the team with 25 points and senior forward Christian Biederman followed with a solid 13 points.

Before the Monta Vista game, the Falcons had a huge victory over Santa Clara on Jan. 23, which ended a three-game losing streak. The Falcons were losing coming into the fourth quarter, but thanks to stellar offensive play and several key defensive stands late in the game, the Falcons managed to come out ahead with a 54-49 lead.

“It was good to see our guys bounce back after the recent tough losses,” said Naas. “They stuck together during the final minutes of the game, made two big defensive stands in the final minute and made clutch free throws.”

Pak and Huang anchored the team’s strong offensive performance with 18 and 14 points, respectively.

After all the recent losses, Pak said the Falcons’ chances of making CCS now rest in the hands of their opponents.

“We have to get lucky,” said Pak. “Teams ahead of us have to start losing, and we have to win a few games.”

The Falcons now shift their attention to a crucial upcoming stretch of league games. The team faced Mountain View on Feb. 10 but due to printing deadlines the Falcon could not include the results of the game. The team will be facing Santa Clara tonight in the team’s Senior Night.

They will conclude league play by playing Monta Vista again on Feb. 17 and will end the regular season on Feb. 20 against Milpitas.

“We are working hard right now to bounce back from our last couple of games,” said Naas. “The team is disappointed in the way we’ve played, but they know the keys to getting us back on track: playing tough team defense and being strong with the ball on the offensive end.” ◆

Monta Vista game:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Saratoga 19 19 13 14 65
Monta Vista 19 12 22 18 71

Saratoga scoring-
Owen Huang 1-3-5, Jamie Turley 3-0-6, Andy Johnson 0-1-1, Daniel Chou 1-4-7, Ryan Pak 7-8-25, Thomas Wang 0-2-2, Alvin Hsia 3-0-6, Christian Biederman 5-3-13.
Three point goals: Chou, Pak 3.

Lynbrook game:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final
Saratoga 12 14 15 4 45
Lynbrook 26 4 11 11 52

Saratoga scoring-
Owen Huang 4-2-10, Jamie Turley 1-0-2, Andy Johnson 3-0-6, Daniel Chou 3-3-10, Ryan Pak 3-0-8, Alvin Hsia 1-0-3, Christian Biederman 1-4-6.
Three point goals: Chou, Pak 2, Hsia.

Our record is now 9-12 overall and 2-6 in league.