Kelley carries Woodside

When Woodside senior was called up to the boys’ basketball varsity squad as a freshman, he figured his high-school career was set. That 2004-05 team went 25-5 and earned the top seed in the Central Coast Section Division I playoffs. That team advanced to the CCS finals. His sophomore year, the Wildcats advanced to the quarterfinals. Last year, the Wildcats failed to make the playoffs and early this season, the team was mired in a 2-7 funk and coming off a demoralizing 71-24 loss to Serra.

"We got handed (our butts) in that game,” Kelley said of the Serra loss. "I guess we figured we had to bounce back any way we can. A loss is a loss, no matter how many points (you lose by).”

Since that loss, the Wildcats are on a roll, having won five straight games. Three of those wins came in the South San Francisco tournament as Woodside captured the tournament title. Kelley was a large reason for the Wildcats’ success. In three games, the 6-foot-1 Kelley averaged 20 points and 8.6 rebounds, earning Most Valuable Player honors as well as being named the Daily Journal’s Athlete of the Week.

After three years of deferring to others on the team, Kelley decided this was year to let it all hang out.

"Since I’m a senior, I figured I had nothing to lose,” Kelley said. "I just decided to give it my all and see what I can do.”

What he can do could lead Kelley to a possible all-league selection, at least that’s what Woodside coach Mike Reynoso believes. He might be right. Kelley started the South City tournament with a rather pedestrian 12 points and five rebounds in a 43-point blowout of O’Connell. In the second round against San Mateo, Kelley found himself further in "The Zone.” He scored a team-high 17 points and pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds. At one point, it appeared he grabbed every rebound. It was his play down the stretch that enabled the Wildcats to pull out a 68-60 win.

The ball just seemed to be coming to me,” Kelley said. "I didn’t have to make a lot of extra effort. I could just out-jump them (the defenders). No one was boxing out.”

In the championship game against Hillsdale, Kelley had one of those games that don’t around very often. After scoring 10 points in the first half, he went off for 21 in the second half to finish with a season-high 31 points in the Wildcats’ 59-51 win over the Knights.

"Playing for Woodside, that’s the best game I’ve ever had,” Kelley said. "By the time Friday rolled around, I really wanted to go out and score as many points as I could.”

Listed as a guard/forward, Kelley’s all-around game enables him to play just about anywhere on the court. Reynoso said he’s lined Kelley up at point guard, shooting guard, small and power forward spots this season and Kelley just produces.

Kelley said he would prefer to play point guard because that’s the position he played growing up.

"I prefer playing point guard because I’d much rather throw a lob to somebody than to finish the lob,” Kelley said.

It’s that type of unselfish attitude that should serve the Wildcats well the rest of the season. Kelley said his maturity is one of the biggest reasons his game has improved so much – maturity and a team-first mindset.

"Not until this year did I have the want to just win,” Kelley said. "Just realizing the goal is not to go out there and see how well you can do personally but to go out there and see how well the team can do.”

The way Kelley is playing, his performance and the team’s success could go hand in hand.