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Photograph by Scott Lechner
Los Gatos senior forward Stephen Pulley works the basketball in last week's CCS playoff game against Seaside. The Wildcats lost 54-52 to the Spartans.
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Los Gatos falls in CCS playoffs Gingery, Knight pop 17 each, but Wildcats lose to Seaside
By Dick Sparrer
It's time for the athletes at Los Gatos to get involved in baseball, track and the other sports of spring. Because there is no more basketball for the Wildcats of 1998-99.
The Cats lost a disappointing 54-52 decision to Seaside last week in the Central Coast Section Division III playoffs, and with the loss, the Los Gatos season came to a screeching halt.
The loss was disappointing because the Wildcats had taken an eight-point lead into the final period against the Spartans. Seaside outscored Gatos 16-6 in that fourth quarter, though, to pull out the two-point victory. But while the loss had to be disappointing for Jim Marino and his Wildcats, the season was anything but!
The Los Gatos Wildcats posted a 20-win season, and finished in third place behind Milpitas and Palo Alto in the rugged De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
Third place is right where Marino expected his Cats to be, and the 20 wins had to be a pleasant bonus. Los Gatos was coming off of a 13-15 season in '97-98, but posted an impressive 20-8 record this season, including tournament championships at Westmont and in the Wildcat Shootout. Still, there's no doubt Marino and his squad would have liked a longer stay at CCS, and it appeared that the Cats were on their way to the second round.
Gatos fell back 14-13 in the first period, but outscored Seaside 15-10 in the second quarter to take a four-point lead at intermission, 28-24. The Cats topped the Spartans 18-14 in the third to go up by eight, but it was Seaside coming on strong in the fourth to pull out the victory.
Junior sharpshooters Beau Knight and Matt Gingery led all Gatos scorers in the game with 17 points apiece. Knight had a pair of three-pointers among his seven field goals and also added a free throw, and Gingery jammed in seven buckets from the field and hit three points at the line.
Jonathan Groff, one of six seniors playing his final game for Los Gatos, supported with eight points for the Wildcats. Devan Denton finished with four points, and Stephen Pulley and Ben Kane hit three points apiece. Kane drilled a three-pointer for the Cats.
Seaside, 20-6 for the year, went on to whip Mitty 88-78 last Saturday night to advance to the CCS Division III semifinals against San Mateo (26-1). The winner of that game will meet the Riordan (17-12)-Santa Cruz (32-0) winner for the CCS championships this weekend at the San Jose State University Events Center.
Santa Cruz advanced to the semifinals with a tight 70-62 win over Saratoga last Thursday.
Groff, Denton, Pulley and talented guard David Whiteside were all seniors closing out their Gatos careers, along with Jeremy Sontag and Chris Warren.
Gingery and Knight will lead the cast of returners for the Wildcats next winter. The two will join with Kane, a sophomore, and juniors Alex Holcomb and Ben Winkelman as Gatos leaders next year.
Juniors Manuel Arredondo, Dan Brenner, Ross Halper and Dan Kramer were other members of the Los Gatos varsity this season.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
