Boys basketball overpowered its Spartan rivals 44-34 for the second time in league yesterday, February 12, at Mountain View. After a recent close six point win over Saratoga and a narrower 51-55 loss (the Eagles’ first in league) against Palo Alto, the Eagles were intent on rectifying their recent close-shaves with a bigger win. With a large group of Los Altos supporters cheering them on, Los Altos went straight to work.
Though the Eagles have traditionally sealed their games with particularly solid second half performances, Los Altos instead got off to a fast start, outscoring the Spartans by 10 points in the first quarter. Captain senior Joey Malgesini contributed three 3-pointers in Los Altos’ early charge, scoring nine of the first quarter’s 16 points.
From there on out, it was just a matter of holding on to their lead. Los Altos matched the Spartans in points for every consecutive quarter after the first (with both teams scoring 7, 12 and 9 points in the following quarters, respectively) and used its bigger size to set up an airtight defense to seal off its win.
“We played solid team defense and moved the ball well,” senior Steven Garverick said.
Steven, along with Joey and junior Daniel Rosenbaum, was among the team’s top scorers throughout the game. Daniel put 12 in the net and Steven contributed 11.
With CCS ever-imminent, the Eagles look to finish league by solidifying themselves as the league leaders. Los Altos currently sits atop league with an 8-1 record (and 16-6 overall record), with Milpitas (7-3) and perhaps its biggest competitor, Palo Alto (6-3) in second and third, respectively.
“We need to go hard in practice,” Steven said.
Los Altos plays Homestead High School next at 7:45 p.m. in the large gym tomorrow, February 14.
