The boys varsity basketball team got a comeback win 56-48 against the Los Gatos Wildcats on Friday, January 23.
The game started out as a defensive struggle. Senior co-captain Daniel Rosenbaum hit a three pointer for the first points of the game two and a half minutes into the game. Once the scoring started though, Los Gatos opened up the Eagles’ zone with a barrage of three-pointers, sinking four in the first quarter to take a 16-10 lead.
The Eagles opened up the second half on a 4-0 run, punctuated by a block by Rosenbaum followed by a dunk by senior Patrick McColl. Los Gatos went on a run of its own though, and got the lead back up to six, 20-14. The teams went back and forth, and the half ended with the score 25-20 in favor of the Wildcats.
The third quarter started much like the second. Los Altos started off on a run to tie the game at 25 with six minutes remaining, but once again the Wildcats came back on their own mini-run to take back the lead, 29-26. A three by senior Will Brennan tied it back up at 29-29 with 3:30 left in the quarter.
The second half was stop-and-go, with the refs calling many fouls. With 2:31 left in the third, both teams were in the bonus. A free throw by Rosenbaum gave the Eagles their first lead since it was 3-0 at the start of the game, and a three by McColl widened the lead to 33-29 in favor of Los Altos with 1:10 left in the quarter. Another three by senior Kyle Cumagun with time expiring made it 36-31 in favor of the Eagles at the end of the third quarter.
Once again in fourth, the Eagles opened up with a run, scoring the first eight points of the quarter to make it a thirteen point lead, 44-31. The Wildcats cut the lead to seven at 44-37, but three free throws by Rosenbaum and a jumper by Cumagun put Los Altos up by twelve, 49-37, with 3:20 left. Both teams went on scoring droughts for the next two minutes, with the score 51-40 with 1:23 remaining. With 1:16 left, senior Thomas Kelleher hit two free throws to make the Los Altos lead thirteen, but two quick Wildcat three-pointers made it 53-46 with 38.7 seconds left. Free throws by Kelleher and Rosenbaum sealed it at 56-48 for Los Altos.
Rosenbaum led all scorers with 24 points. The win give Los ALtos a 7-9 record overall and 2-3 in SCVAL. Up next for the Eagles is an away game at Fremont next Tuesday, January 27, followed by a home game against Milpitas next Friday, January 30.
