The Milpitas boys basketball team came through on senior night, defeating visiting Cupertino 52-41.
Milpitas coach Clarence Wrencher had some trepidation going into the game.
“Our record against Cupertino our last three years is not very good. This is the first time I’ve actually coached a team that beat Cupertino in the six years I’ve been coaching, so I was a little bit nervous about this game,” Wrencher said. “Because it’s Senior Night, there are a lot of distractions and you don’t know how the kids react with something like that, and we’re playing against a team that’s good at controlling the ball, and when they control the ball anything can happen.
Milpitas led early, 17-14. But Cupertino rallied to lead 21-20 just before halftime.
Cupertino's Jeffrey Liang and Javier Licardia heated up, keeping the Pioneers in the game. But Milpitas wasn't going away and eventually took a 43-33 lead.
Cupertino kept chipping away and moved to within 44-40 on Robert Hou's three-pointer. But a lay-up and a three-pointer by Marcus Rita allowed Milpitas to zoom away again, mounting a 52-41 lead.
“In the first half we didn’t shoot it well," Wencher said. "Our best player (Christian Rita) didn’t score a lot of points. Because of that, we struggled. Cupertino shot it well, they actually had a lead (at) halftime,” Wrencher said.
Said Milpitas guard Marcus Rita: “I was pretty confident coming into this game because we prepared and practiced so I knew we were going to do good against them. I didn’t get as many shots as I wanted to in the beginning, but towards the end I got a few shots in there and I was pretty satisfied. We played good, as a team and individually."
Added Wencher: “I think Marcus Rita played good, our only returning starter. He shot it well, he played within himself. And then Jason Scrempos did really good inside. He made a lot of free throws. He shot 33 percent the whole year on the free throw line, and I think he missed only one all night.
