St. Francis, Los Altos, Homestead & Gunn ousted in opening round of CCS playoffs
By Pete Borello, Town Crier Staff Writer
 photos by Joe Hu/Town Crier St. Francis High’s Charlie Peck (standing, left) reacts to last week’s CCS loss to Westmont. |
For the St. Francis High boys basketball team, facing Westmont in the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs was almost like looking in a mirror.
“We ran into a team not unlike ourselves,” St. Francis coach Steve Filios said. “If they weren’t our opponent, I’d probably enjoy watching them.”
Filios didn’t enjoy watching his team fall 62-59 to Westmont in the Feb. 23 playoff opener.
In a battle of two teams that thrive on hustle and heart, the 12th-seeded Warriors proved a tad scrappier than the No. 5 Lancers.
“The heart was there, but we were just a step off quite a bit of the time,” said Filios, who lost in the opening round of CCS for the first time in his 13 years as coach. “They beat us to every loose ball; well, not every one, but a lot of times they got to the right spot at the right time.”
St. Francis (11-16) never led in the game and trailed Westmont by as many as 11 points in the first half. But the Lancers, down 33-25 at halftime, chipped away at the deficit in the third quarter. They tied the game at 43, then again at 45 with about a minute left in the period.
Westmont (17-11) regained the lead by quarter’s end, however. Chance Staden, who nailed a three-pointer right before halftime, made another buzzer-beating trey to give his team a 48-45 edge.
“Those threes were a couple of daggers,” Filios said.
St. Francis never recovered from the last one, unable to put together another run. The Warriors meanwhile, did just enough to stay ahead of the Lancers the rest of the way.
“We couldn’t seem to get over the hump,” Filios said. “The bottom line: we just didn’t get lucky enough.”
But St. Francis had more than enough missed layups (10), turnovers (19) and fouls (22). The fouls were especially crippling: Westmont made 16 of 28 free throws; St. Francis was 10 of 16.
The Lancers did at least hold a slight edge in field goal shooting. St. Francis made 19 of 50 shots (42 percent), while the Warriors were 19 of 53 (37.7 percent).
Point guard James Bisordi led the Lancers with 17 points and a career-high 10 steals.
“He did a tremendous job,” Filios said.
The coach also praised junior forwards Richie Scudellari and Adam Budelli for providing “a spark off the bench.” Scudellari tallied 14 points and made three of his team’s seven treys. Budelli had eight points.
This marked St. Francis’ 15th game of the season decided by six or fewer points.
“We lived up to our M.O,” said Filios, whose team went 7-8 in such games.
In other Division II playoff action Feb. 23:
• After a strong start, No. 11 Gunn was overwhelmed in the next two quarters of a 53-46 loss at No. 6 Overfelt. The Titans led 19-16 after the first quarter, only to see Overfelt go on a 28-10 run over the second and third periods. Peter Jordan finished with 23 points to lead Gunn (12-14).
• Seventh-seeded Homestead didn’t find any comfort at home, losing 69-56 to No. 10 Aragon. The Dons pulled away with a 15-4 run in the third quarter. The Mustangs end their season with a 16-11 record.
Eagles exit Division III
Although Los Altos has plenty to be proud of in a season in which it won nine more games than the year before, coach Josh Waldorph said he and his players are disappointed with the way it ended.
“To lose to a team that’s better than us is one thing,” he said of the Eagles’ 56-50 opening-round loss to El Camino Feb. 23, “but to lose a game we could have won and should have won is tough.”
Ninth-seeded Los Altos led for most of the first half - at least until No. 8 El Camino went on a 6-0 spurt to tie the game at 27 at intermission.
The host Colts (16-10) carried the momentum into the second half, building a nine-point lead in the third quarter. The Eagles (13-12) made a run of their own in the fourth, but they couldn’t get any closer than four points.
Throughout the game, Los Altos struggled to shoot straight against a quicker, more aggressive El Camino team.
“We were horrible from the field,” said Waldorph, whose team made just 19 of its 50 shots (38 percent), “and we were only 14 of 21 on free throws.”
The Eagles also were hurt by 14 turnovers.
“They were all costly turnovers,” Waldorph said. “Most of them resulted in points for them.”
One of the bright spots for Los Altos, according to the coach, was point guard Evan Nelson. The junior totaled nine points, four assists and three steals.
Senior post player Kevin Riley led the Eagles with 16 points and also grabbed seven rebounds. Junior forward Richard Rullo added seven points and a team-high eight rebounds.
Los Altos played without forward Mark Favaro, who broke his leg in the league finale, and guard Kendrick Park, who was in Korea for family reasons.
“The kids have nothing to hang their heads about,” Waldorph said of his team’s effort. “They competed.”
