“Passing game!” the Los Altos players yelled as the final seconds wound down. In an intense showdown between two SCVAL El Camino Division teams, visiting Los Altos and Gunn were neck in neck until the very last moment. Literally. A last-second shot under the hoop by senior Nate Vieira captured the 51-49 victory for the Eagles (12-6, 7-0).
Though the Titans (4-14, 1-7) lost their lead in the third quarter and entered the fourth trailing 42-36, a layup by Gunn senior center Max Girod with one minute left tied the game 47-47. While the Gunn fans cheered, “Defense! Defense!” Los Altos responded with a two-pointer by junior Joey Malgesini. Immediately, Titan guard senior Zach Wang bursted down the court and, with multiple Eagles defenders on him, completed a layup that got the crowd to its feet. Once again, the game was tied at 49-49 with 9.8 seconds remaining.
With a Los Altos possession, the Gunn fans cheered louder, “DEFENSE! DEFENSE!” as Vieira made his way down the court. A few swift moves got him past a Gunn defender and into the arc, and, as the buzzer sounded, he jumped, with two Titan defenders on him, and put the ball into the hoop for the winning shot. Vieira led the Eagles with 13 points, three assists, three rebounds, and four steals.
“We came out very sluggish [in the first half], and we weren’t assertive,” Los Altos coach Bob McFarlane said. “Honestly, we didn’t come ready to play. But our team has a real will to win and they never give up, so we battled through our challenges.”
Along with Vieira, junior Steven Garverick led the Eagles with 14 points, three rebounds, and two steals. Malgesini made three two-pointers, went 6-for-6 from the line, and had two assists and six rebounds. Senior Nate Becker scored five points and had two rebounds.
For the Titans, sophomore small forward Chris Russell hit four 3-pointers in the first half alone on the way to 16 points on the night. His last-second three-point shot gave the Titans a 29-26 lead at the half.
“We battled [Los Altos] down to the last second, so I’m really proud of the way we played,” Gunn coach Michael Ferolino said. “Going into the fourth quarter, we were down six points, then it went down around seven or nine. But we came all the way back to tie the game with under 10 seconds left, so I’m definitely proud of that.”
Wang and senior guard Chris Rea each scored four points and had two rebounds. Wang went 2-for-2 from the free-throw line and had one assist, while junior small guard Eli Dawson had three rebounds and scored two points.
But the player who dominated the court with 17 points and 12 rebounds was Girod, who made his season debut after recovering from a knee injury.
“It felt really good to be back, he said. “Obviously I need to work on conditioning, but we played an awesome game and we fought [Los Altos] hard.”
Girod acknowledged that this is the closest game they have played all season, and he’s impressed with how his team fought.
“[Vieira] made an amazing shot at the end, but I feel if we played this team one more time, we can beat them,” he said. Girod hopes to “get back into rhythm, finish those easy layups [he] had at the beginning of the game, get the butterflies out, keep playing hard.”
As a collective team, Ferolino wants the Titans to reduce their turnovers. “We started off a couple of possessions with turnovers, but cut those down and we’ll be fine,” he said.
McFarlane will work with Los Altos on their defense, energy, and intensity to prepare for their next game.
The Eagles hope to continue their eight-game winning streak at home when they face off against another El Camino Division team, the Santa Clara Bruins, on Feb. 1 at 7:45 pm. The Titans will also battle the Bruins when they hit the road on Feb. 5 at 7 pm.
