| | Published February 13th, 2013
| Home Court Advantage
Miramonte Defeats Rivals in Homestand
| | By Michael Sakoda |  | | Drew Anderson #2 goes for a shot against Buster Souza #1. Photos Ohlen Alexander
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Miramonte (15-10) went 2-0 on its home floor against Lamorinda rivals Acalanes (9-16) and Campolindo (17-7).
On Feb. 1, the Mats routed the Dons, 56-41. The game was decided in the first quarter where Miramonte's defense forced seven Acalanes turnovers. Mats senior guard and co-captain, Derek Lin, set the tone for his team, picking up three steals in the first half.
"They played very aggressively on defense, and that forced our guys out of their fundamentals," said Dons head coach Darrell Hirashima after the game. "We needed to calm down and do things simply. If we had come out with a little more composure instead of trying to regain it, we would have had a much better shot."
Acalanes found themselves down nine in the first quarter, but they did their best to battle back, getting 13 points and six blocks from junior center Buster Souza. Still, it wasn't enough to overcome Miramonte's stifling defense.
"We only allowed 41 points," said Miramonte senior forward Kiran Shastri after the game. "That was one of our goals, to keep the score down. Everything went our way."
The Mats got 19 from their bench, led by 13 points, three steals from junior forward Drew Anderson on their way to a 15-point victory, 56-41.
On Feb. 4, Miramonte saw its second home game against a Lamorinda rival as they hosted Campolindo in a game that came down to the final buzzer. Again, the Mats opened the game with tough defense, forcing six Campo turnovers in the first quarter.
Miramonte junior guard Joey Goodreault scored eight first quarter points giving the Mats a 18-14 edge after the first.
Campo out rebounded Miramonte 26-10 in the first half, getting several second chance points from sophomore center Chris Hansen (10 points, seven rebounds), and junior forward Justin Dunn (16 points, 10 rebounds).
At the end of the first half, Campo trailed 27-24.
Campo captured the lead in the third quarter by limiting their number of turnovers and riding the offensive onslaught of sophomore guard Matt O'Reilly, who scored 11 of his game high 22 in the third quarter.
"We wanted to come out with a lot of intensity in the second half," O'Reilly said after the game. "We wanted to make a run."
The Cougars had a 51-45 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The fourth saw back and forth play from both teams, and after a pair of back-to-back threes from O'Reilly that gave Campo a 56-63 lead with 2:13 left to play, the game seemed all but over.
With under a minute to play, Shastri scored two of his 12 fourth quarter points on a put back. Goodreault picked off the subsequent Campo inbounds pass and scored, cutting the deficit to 66-67. Campo then turned the ball over in the front court with 28.9 seconds left to play.
Goodreault caught the inbounds pass for the Mats with 14.5 seconds on the clock. Cougar guard Andrew Zolitakis (11 points, six rebounds, seven assists) went for the steal, but Goodreault drove to the basket.
He scored the biggest bucket of his team high 17 points with 4.8 seconds left on the clock. "We drew up a play," said Miramonte head coach Drew McDonald about the waning seconds of the game. "When it fell apart, Joey drove to the basket."
Miramonte held on to win 68-67.
"You're never going to win a game when you turn the ball over that many times," said Campolindo head coach Matt Watson. "We did a better job in the second half, but we didn't take care of it in the last thirty seconds of the game, and that killed us."
Acalanes hosted Campolindo Feb. 12 for the final rivalry game of the season. Postseason play begins on Feb. 19.
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 | | Chris Hansen #44 had 10 points, seven rebounds in the loss to the Mats.
|  | | Joey Goodreault #24 had a team-high 17 points, including the game-winner for the Mats.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA