New coach wins first game with Sequoia

Dean took over the program Monday, Jan. 12, after the in-season departure of longtime coach Fine Lauese. It was Dean’s third game at the helm, with previous Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division loses to Carlmont and Burlingame earlier in the week. The Saturday afternoon matchup at Woodside also marked the return of senior point guard Enzo Zencirci, who had missed the previous week due to illness.

“He’s like the head of the snake to me,” Dean said. “And if I had him during the week, I feel like we would have beat Burlingame Friday night.”

Sequoia made a run at Burlingame, taking a 31-23 lead into halftime, and clinging to 39-37 advantage heading into the fourth quarter. The Ravens went on to score just three points through the final period to fall 50-42.

“We were trying to get that upset Friday night,” Dean said. “We didn’t quite get there. So, I had a really good feeling about Saturday with CCS qualifying being on the line — rivalry game.”

Sequoia (7-9) used the opening minutes of the fourth quarter to secure the lead. Up 39-34, Henderson hit a pick-and-roll jumper from 17 feet. Senior center William Lampe then pulled down a rebound off a corner-3 miss, and at the other end junior guard Nik Dimaano promptly pulled up to drill a long wing 3 less than a minute into the period — already better than Sequoia’s entire fourth-quarter output at Burlingame — to put the Ravens up by 10.

Woodside (7-8) went on to miss a pair of contested 3s, before junior Marco Antonino hit two free throws with 5:35 to play. A Sequoia turnover put the Wildcats back on the attack for Antonino to drop a 3-pointer from up top. But Tapper responded by getting to the line for Sequoia to hit two critical free throws.

“I think really what put us over the top is we were mixing up defenses and we stepped up our man-to-man pressure,” Dean said. “And, of course, timely shots and timely free-throw shooting.”

The Ravens scored just three points over the final four minutes, and Woodside senior Owen Kinder scored a transition layup to close it a one-score game 46-43 with 3:45 to play. But out of Sequoia timeout, Zencirci rattled in a dribble-drive floater. Woodside kept it close when senior Christian Struss pulled down an offensive rebound and kicked it out to Kinder for a splash 3 off the elbow to draw to within 2 with 2:55 to play.

The Sequoia defense would get two straight stops, though, with the Wildcats hawking from long range. After Tapper hit 1 of 2 free throws, the Ravens got slapped with a technical with 53 seconds left, but Woodside missed both free throws then, off the inbound, Zencirci came up with a clutch strip-steal. Sequoia would give it back on a five-second inbound violation with 33.7 seconds to play. The Wildcats, however, couldn’t but a basket on their final possession, missing a 3-point attempt and two free throws, before a last-ditch 3 came up short to end it.

Zencirci was one of three Ravens to finish in double-digit scoring for Sequoia with 12 points. Henderson added 11, while Tapper scored a team-high 16 points, including five in the final quarter.

“And we needed every one of those points,” Dean said.

New coach has lengthy resume

Dean’s last varsity head coaching post was at St. Mary’s-Albany in 2013-14, but he later served as a varsity assistant at Woodside Priory in 2019 and ’20, then helped Burlingame to back-to-back CCS Division III championships in 2021 and ’22 as an assistant on Jeff Dowd’s coaching staff. He also served as head coach of the Mercy-Burlingame girls’ basketball team in 2011 and ’12.

Dean currently works as a private player development coach, and is the lead basketball instructor at Bay Club Redwood Shores. He was looking to return to high school coaching at the start of the season, and applied for the open boys’ basketball position at Carlmont that went to former Menlo-Atherton assistant Suhail Mohammadi.

As a Redwood City resident, Dean, 52, is now closer to home at Sequoia.

“I had the chance to coach the varsity high school team in the city where I live ... so it just made sense,” Dean said.

A graduate of Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, Dean went on to play at Cal in the 1990s as a walk-on, and was a junior on the 1993-94 team that advanced to the NCAA championship tournament alongside future NBA players Lamond Murray, Michael Stewart and Jason Kidd.

“It was cool to be a part of a team with NBA players,” Den said, “and when my career was over, it kind of gave me the bug to stay in the game and start coaching.”