The Palo Alto-Sequoia boys’ basketball game was a popular among the media, with three local sports reporters in attendance Redwood City Tuesday night.
It was a game based more on the past than the present. The Vikings and Cherokees have been two of the best teams on the Peninsula the last couple of seasons. Sequoia has made back-to-back appearances in the Central Coast Section Open Division, while Palo Alto has advanced to the Northern California championship game the last two seasons.
Tuesday’s version of these teams was nothing like the squads the last two years. Palo Alto had eight players out, all the ones who were playing football until last Saturday. Sequoia, meanwhile, is having to break in five new starters.
Throw in the fact it was the season opener for both squads and it was not a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination.
But if there were things to be gleaned from Palo Alto’s 53-42 win over Sequoia, it’s that even a short-handed Palo Alto squad will be a handful and that the Cherokees have a lot of work to do before the league opener Dec. 20 against Menlo-Atherton.
“Ugly. First game of the season,” is how Sequoia head coach Fine Lauese described the game.
“[Palo Alto] was just able to execute more.”
That execution started with aggressive play and a continued attack of the basket by the Vikings. It usually ended at the free-throw line. Palo Alto hit more free throws (17) than Sequoia made field goals (14) as the Vikings outscored the Cherokees 17-6 from the line.
Sequoia, on the other hand, relied on its 3-point shooting and not surprisingly, the Cherokees struggled in their first game of the year, connecting on 6 of 29 attempts from behind the line.
The good news is, Sequoia appears to have a number of guys who can knock down the long ball as six players connected from downtown. Sam Schult led Sequoia with 8 points, while Davin Leathers and Matt Sato had 7 points each as nine of 11 members of the roster got in the scoring column.
The problem was, the Cherokees could not do it with any consistency.
“When Palo Alto sat in that zone (defense), we struggled,” Lauese said.
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Palo Alto got a game-high 15 points from Anthony Yu, who went 9 for 15 from the line. Marvin Zou added 14 for the Vikings.
Despite the offensive troubles, Sequoia was solid on the defensive end. The Cherokees held the Vikings to just 16 for 45 shooting (36 percent) and outrebounded Palo Alto 39-32, including 23-16 in the second half. Sophomore Kiahn Nice-Whiteside grabbed a team-leading 7 rebounds, while Albert Tuakalau, Henry Utecht and Gabe Munguia each pulled down 5 boards.
Sequoia got off to a quick start. The Cherokees used their defense to jump-start their offense as they forced Palo Alto into a couple of early turnovers that they turned into quick points. Leathers opened the scoring with a pull-up jumper and followed that with a 3-pointer from the top of the arc. After Palo Alto broke the seal, Sequoia got a coast-to-coast layup from Sato and a fastbreak layup from Leathers to take a 9-3 lead with 6:13 left in the first quarter.
Then the offense dried up for the Cherokees. They did not score again in the opening period as Palo Alto finished on a 7-0 run to take a 10-9 lead after one quarter of play.
Both teams seemed to settle in for the second quarter as they combined for 25 points. The Cherokees went another minute without scoring, extending their scoreless drought to more than seven minutes, before Tuakalau took a pass in the post from Leathers, which he converted into an easy layup and Sequoia was just one, 12-11.
Palo Alto spurted out to a 16-11 advantage, but Sequoia answered with a 7-0 run. Schult knocked down a baseline drive and converted the and-1 to start the run and followed that with a pair of free throws. When Utecht grabbed a rebound and scored on a putback a the 3:34 mark, it gave Sequoia an 18-16 lead.
But once again, the well went dry for the Cherokees, who managed only a Ricky Viegas 3-pointer at the buzzer over the final 3:34 of the first half and trailed 23-21 at halftime.
But the Cherokees hung tough. A pair of Tuakalau free throws and a Lio Lauese fadeaway jumper gave Sequoia a 25-24 advantage early in the second half. A Tuakalau layup on an inbound pass put Sequoia up 27-26, but another five-plus minute scoreless drought turned into a 36-30 Vikings advantage as they closed the third period on a 10-run.
In the fourth, every time Sequoia tried to make a run, Palo Alto was there to answer and just to be consistent, down 48-42 with 1:20 to play, the Cherokees did not score again.
Coach Lauese won’t read too much into a season-opening loss, however. He already has a good idea of his rotation. This game was just about getting everybody some playing time.
“Today, I just wanted to play everybody to see if we’re missing anything,” Lauese said.
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