Basketball: Woodside boys win PAL title, first two CCS games Basketball: Woodside boys win PAL title, first two CCS games (March 02, 2005)

By Max Schneider

Woodside High student

High school basketball aficionados county-wide may have felt a sense of deja-vu as they heard of Woodside High's PAL championship win over Burlingame, and their rout of Live Oak to open the CCS tournament.

The situation was similar to last year as Woodside breezed through the first two rounds of the PAL tourney, but had to give everything they had to defeat Burlingame in the title game. Also just like last season, when they crushed Los Gatos to start the CCS playoffs, the Wildcats had an easy win over Live Oak in the CCS Division I first round.
Saturday's games

On Saturday, February 26, No. 1-seed Woodside boys beat No. 8 Oak Grove, 64-39 at Foothill College and will play Piedmont Hills at Foothill College at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 1.

Woodside girls lost to Wilcox, 46-27, on Saturday at Foothill and are out of the tournament.
M-A boys

M-A boys lost to Serra, 66-44, at Foothill on Saturday and are also out of the tournament. Dan Trautman had 15 points and Mike Jorgensen, 13 points. M-A boys

In the CCS Division I opening round game, No 10-seed Menlo-Atherton defeated No. 7 Alias, 80-67, on February 24. Carson Finkle had 24 points after missing a game due to a back injury, and Trautman scored 24 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Bears, who used a strong second quarter to take control of the game.
PAL Tournament

Woodside defeated Oceana, 78-58, at home in the first round of the PAL Tournament on February 16. Woodside won behind their penetrating defense, good rebounding and hustle, and an excellent transition offense.

The Wildcats were led by Juston Smith's 15 points and 9 rebounds; they also got key contributions from Eric Berman (12 points, 6 steals), Dominic Cruz-Duncan (12 points, 7 rebounds), and Aaron Mayfield (12 points, 6 assists). Tony Garcia paced Oceana with 21 points.

Meanwhile, Menlo-Atherton upset Menlo, the No. 1 seed from the PAL North Division, 52-48, on the road on February 16. The Bears, who were carried by Dan Trautman's 27 points, had an excellent fourth quarter in which they outscored Menlo, 20-12. Chris Dallmar added six points for M-A, who lost star guard Carson Finkle to a back injury midway through the game. Freshman Beau Heidrich had 13 points to pace Menlo.

Woodside went on to beat a Finkle-less M-A, 72-45, on February 18 at San Mateo High. The Bears committed 10 turnovers and displayed lackadaisical defense in the first half, trailing 41-25 at halftime. It did not get much better for M-A in the second half, as Woodside scored 25 points in the third quarter to blow apart the game.

Mayfield led the balanced Woodside with 14 points, as seven different Wildcats scored at least six points. J.R. Valdez added 12, and Cruz-Duncan contributed eight points and nine rebounds. Trautman, the only Bear in double figures, totaled a game-high 24 points.
PAL title

These two triumphs brought Woodside to its final PAL opponent: Burlingame. The team won at Woodside in the two teams' only other game, claiming Woodside's only loss in the regular season (a tight 72-66 contest on January 5). Burlingame had been led all season by superstar guard Drew Shiller, who torched Woodside for 45 points in their previous game.

Unfazed by having history on their rival's side, the Wildcats stayed tough and confident February 19 at San Mateo High, and ended up with the win, 51-46, and with it, the league championship.

The game was quite close in the first half, with neither team leading by more than five. Burlingame owned a 31-29 lead at halftime. The advantage stayed the same going into the fourth quarter, but Woodside's tenacious defense broke open the game, limiting Burlingame to just five points in the fourth quarter, and causing them to commit 11 turnovers. As the Wildcats secured the win, many thought to last season, when they beat the same Shiller-led Burlingame, 57-56, to become champions.

Woodside's Cruz-Duncan led all scorers with 19 points, and Berman added eight. Shiller, the league's scoring leader, was held to 12 points, and Nick Polidoroff had 10 to lead Burlingame.
CCS opening round

Woodside entered the CCS Division I tournament as the first seed with a record of 26-5 (15-1 in league games), and promptly routed #16 Live Oak on February 24 at home, 76-58.

The two teams played opposite games in the first half, as Woodside consistently pounded the ball inside to utilize their superior strength, while the Live Oak sharpshooters took dozens of outside shots. Woodside had a 45-28 lead at halftime.

Live Oak could not get closer than 12 points away in the third quarter, and no closer than 17 in the fourth as the Wildcats played tough defense and displayed remarkable consistency and confidence. Cruz-Duncan led Woodside with 21 points (13 in the first half), and Smith, Valdez, and Berman contributed 13, 12, and 10 points respectively. Live Oak's Doug Porras hit four three-pointers en route to a game-high 20 points.
Woodside girls

The Woodside girls team also recorded a CCS Division I opening round home win last week, beating Oak Grove, 53-51, in an exciting game on February 23. The Wildcats, who improved to 18-11 (7-7) got off to a slow start, and were trailing at halftime, but used a 10-2 run to take a 45-40 lead with 2:03 left. With Woodside leading 51-46, Shavonnya Williams, who paced her team with 26 points, hit a three-pointer to make it a 2-point game. However, it was not enough, and Woodside closed out the game on the free-throw line.

Jasmine Lewis led Woodside with 29 points and Arianne Smith, playing her first game back from an ankle injury, added 10.

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