 | | | Mats' Kazz Tamura and Campo's Alan Hickey fight for a loose ball. Photo Jordan Fong
| | | | | | The second round of rivalry games in Lamorinda is complete. The boys' teams came down to the last minutes. On the girls' side, Campolindo continues to ride in second place of the DFAL with easy wins over their rivals.
Boys' Games
On February 8, Miramonte traveled to Moraga to take on the Cougars. Campo senior Carl King stated, "This was the most exciting game I have ever played in." Campo rallied from a 17 point second period deficit to eventually catch up and defeat the Mats.
Campo jumped out to an early 7-4 lead but Miramonte hit the next 24 points of the next 28 to take its biggest lead with 2:35 to go in the half.
The Mats led 28-18 at the break.
Mats sophomore Kirin Shastri hit a three to open the second half and Miramonte led by 13. Then King came off the bench to go to work. He said "It is different when you do not start as it sometimes takes time to get going." And get going he did. Held scoreless in the first half, he hit a lay up with 6:10 to go for his first points. He went on to record three steals in the period with two resulting in layups. By the end of the period, Campo was within two.
The fourth quarter remained close as Miramonte pushed the lead back to eight on senior Kazz Tamura's long range jumper, but Campo kept coming back to finally tie the game off of a layup by King 27 seconds to go.
In overtime, Campo took the lead. Junior Griffin Piatt scored twice. Two free throws from King on a one-and-one with 21 seconds left sealed the win.
King led all scorers with 23 points, all in the second half and overtime, while Piatt added 18. Senior Anthony Piganelli led a balanced Miramonte attack with 15 while juniors Ross Anderson and Jack Pietrykowski added 13 and 10 respectively. Shastri scored 11.
Just the week before, on Feburary 1 Campolindo defeated Acalanes in a close game. Piatt hit a three-point basket to bring the Cougars back from a late two point deficit and a 60-59 win over the Dons. Campo Coach Matt Watson had called a time out and he said "Acalanes defended the play very well and it went down to the third option and Piatt came through" on a 25-footer for the win.
The Dons' had ten three point baskets (including three each from juniors Kevin Huber and James Griffin).
Campo started early jumping off to an 18-8 first period lead in the game played at Acalanes. The Dons stormed back in the second taking a 31-29 lead at the intermission. Most of the rest of the game was close before Piatt's last second heroics. Piatt led Campo with 11 points while Franklin had nine points and ten rebounds.
Griffin led all scorers with 22 points.
As the DFAL and regular seasons come to an end, all three boys team appear headed again for a trip to the North Coast Section playoffs, though likely not as highly seeded as in recent years and this will be the first time in several years that a Lamorinda team has not won the DFAL.
Girls' Games
The Lady Cougars had an easier time than their male counterparts, defeating Miramonte 75-69 and Acalanes 63-37.
The February 8th matchup against Miramonte game started close. Campo led 39-37 at the half led by strong shooting from senior Annie Ward and junior Mallory Brown.
In the second half, Campo pulled away to their biggest lead of the game at 61-49 when sophomore Laura Hickey hit two of her eight points. Miramonte came right back behind senior Liza Katz who hit back-to-back baskets and two free throws and with 3:40 to go they were down 65-61.
Campo scored the next five points capped by a steal and layup by senior Ruthie Shapiro and despite a three from Mat junior Taylor Kizziee, Campo hung on for the win. Ward hit two free throws with ten seconds left to put the game out of reach.
Campo was led by senior Amanda Forshay who scored 18 to go with eight rebounds and seven assists. Junior Annelise Ito had a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. She also hit seven-of-eight free throws in a game where Campo made 14-of-16 from the charity stripe while Miramonte was only five of ten.
Against the Lady Dons the week before, Campo jumped off to a 17-10 lead after one period and increased the lead to nine at the halftime. A swarming defense held Acalanes to only two points in the third period and they coasted from there.
Ito scored 12 points and added eight boards while senior Chloe Hull also added 12 points for Campo. Don senior Kiara Harewood led all scorers with 13.
All three girls' teams will be in the post season. They have all been ranked in the top four in the Division III rankings most of the season, with Campo likely getting the highest seed: Miramonte and Acalanes will also be looking to host first and second round games. It would not be a surprise for two of these three teams to meet again in a semi-final or final game.
|
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA