January 1, 2007

Sports

Willow Glen chips away, but can’t beat Leland

By Gary van den Heuvel
Staff Writer

The Willow Glen High School boys basketball team fell behind early, chipped away to take the lead in the second half, but couldn’t finish strong and lost 55-45 to the Leland Chargers recently at Willow Glen High School.

Willow Glen's Ricky Huynh passes the ball during their game with Leland on Tuesday, Dec. 18. Photos by Daniel Miranda

The Rams’ Matt Ward nailed a three-pointer to give Willow Glen an early 3-2 lead, but that lead was short-lived as the Chargers scored 14 unanswered points, including three-pointers from Cody Tyson and Drew Marino. Two free throws by Willow Glen’s 6-foot-5-inch sophomore Jimmy Renneke ended the Leland spree, but the Chargers finished the first quarter with a 16-5 lead.

From that point, Willow Glen began a long, slow, gradual rally. The Rams were able to shake off their offensive doldrums on the shooting of Renneke and speedy point guard Ricky Huyhn, whose ability to run the floor jumpstarted Willow Glen’s attack.

“They’re our one-two punch,” said Willow Glen coach Todd Meeker about Renneke, who scored 13 points, and Huyhn, who led all scorers with 18. In reference to Huyhn, Meeker said, “he always plays really hard. He hit some threes to get us back into the game.”

At halftime Leland’s lead had shriveled to three points, and with four-and-a-half minutes left in the third quarter, Huyhn’s two free throws gave the Rams a 32-31 lead--Willow Glen’s first since the first quarter.

Willow Glen's Shawn Rooney passes the ball during their game with Leland on Dec. 18.

“They were really physical with us in the third quarter and pushed us around all over the place,” said Leland coach Steve Seandel. “After the first quarter I knew we were going to have to play pretty well – they were starting to play awfully well.”

Leland retook the lead on baskets by Cody Tyson and Greg Hipwell and a free throw by Bentli Bejan put the Chargers up 36-34 as the third quarter ended.

“I thought we played well in the middle,” said Meeker. “We didn’t start out very good and we didn’t end very good.”

The Rams actually led 41-38 after a Renneke lay-up following an offensive rebound, but Marino, who was one of three Chargers to score 12 points (Tyson and Hipwell were the others), tied the game with a three-pointer.

From that point, both teams reverted to their first-quarter personas: Leland’s offense, particularly clutch free throw shooting by Tyson, Hipwell and Drew and Trevor Marino, dominated the action and gave Leland the 10-point win. It was their second victory over Willow Glen, their first coming in the Westmont tournament in late November. Leland is now 6-3 on the season, while Willow Glen is3-7.

“Their pressure got to us,” said Meeker. Our defense broke down. I like the effort, but unfortunately we didn’t have it in the last few minutes.”

Sports Briefs

U10 Girls’ Select Soccer Tryout
Santa Clara Sporting is looking for girls who love to play soccer in a competitive and fun environment. We focus on individual player development in a team setting. Your daughter will be coached and trained by experienced coaches who have special training and licenses for coaching young players. Neither team charges any coaching or training fees of any kind! We have two teams playing Class 1 select and both are expanding their rosters. Your daughter must be born on or after August 1, 1997. We’re looking for 4 – 5 girls for each team. Both teams have a track record of success including 2nd place at last year’s and this year’s Norcal State Cup. If you are ready to have your daughter step up to a challenging and fun soccer environment, please contact either Jim Lawrence at 408-204-7020 or sjlaw@aol.com or Dave Ballard 408-600-4531, dballard12@sbcglobal.net. Tryouts: Dec. 11 and 12 from 5 -7 p.m. Location: Central Park in Santa Clara, at the grass field adjacent to the International Swim Center, 2625 Patricia Dr., Santa Clara 95051 (behind the Santa Clara City Library). More info at www.scsc97.com.

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