Young Las Positas Has Big Upside

It’s a younger group at Las Positas College, but that youth movement brings solid basketball backgrounds from premier high school basketball programs. Opportunity knocks loudly for them to flourish at one of the state’s top men’s community college programs.
Glancing at the Hawks’ 15-deep roster shows names like Serra, Sheldon, St. Joseph Notre Dame and Dublin as from where new Hawks learned the high school trade. The quest now is to quickly get them acquainted with the college game at Las Positas (2-1), ranked fifth in Northern California in the CCCMBCA preseason poll.
“There are only three players on this roster who’ve had college experience,” Las Positas coach James Giacomazzi said. “So we have so many new guys, they are still figuring it out on the job. On the job training. They are going to keep getting better the more they play.”
That task got underway in Hawks’ first weekend of games, a trio played at home in the annual Tony Costello Tip-Off Classic. After a grueling 103-100 overtime loss to a relentless Butte team in the Nov. 4 opener, Las Positas responded with a decisive 98-70 victory over Sacramento City College and then an 89-56 win over College of the Siskiyous. All three games featured important contributions from the freshmen class.
In the Butte game, freshman Brandon Fisher from Sheldon-Sacramento jumped out with 32 points and 13 rebounds. Against Sacramento City, freshman Domonick Victor of Tracy had 23 points and eight rebounds. In the Siskiyous game the two split the difference, each going for 14 points with Dublin graduate Malik Jackson chipping in 12.
“Right now we have 75 percent of our roster as freshmen, and one of the sophomores is hurt,” he said. “So now we have two guys who have ever played a college basketball game before.”
That sophomore is Dathan Satchell from Tracy, who will be a key factor for the Hawks when he is able to return from a foot injury after 1-2 weeks.
“When we get him back, that will be a nice shot in the arm, '' Giacomazzi said of the guard. “He’s one of the best shooters in the state.”
Newcomers like Jackson bring a variety of skills to the table.
“He’s so smart; he’s a very cerebral player,” Giacomazzi said of the wing. “He’s our best defender. He’s been well-coached. He doesn't try to do too much. He takes what the defense gives him. He’s one of the most efficient players we have. He’s very economical in shots and rebounds and all that. He doesn’t turn the ball over a lot. He just fits in what you need. You need a little scoring? ‘OK, I can give you that.’ You need defense today, ‘OK, I can do that.’ You need some more help on the rebounds? ‘OK.’”
Versatility also applies to Victor, who comes from Tracy by way of Howard University.
“He’s kind of a wing playing in multiple spots,” his coach said. “We have him playing a little bit face-up, back to the basket, playing under ... he’s playing different spots on the floor. He and (fellow freshman) Evan Johnson, they are really athletic. So when they are around the basket, we built this offense to create situations, where we make smaller guys look bigger, and play bigger in the flow of the offense.”
Fisher’s strong debut in the first game showed why the Sheldon-Sacramento product is so promising.
“It can be any of those interior guys (who could go off with a 30-point game), but I think Fisher puts himself into positions where he can get easy shots or get offensive rebounds and putbacks and things of that nature,” Giacomazzi said. “He has a good understanding of his role in this offense and on this team. I think he takes coaching very well. And he’s trying to apply what he’s learning. He’s never been a huge scorer in his career, never been asked to. But in our offense and what we do, he can do that.”
Attitude is a big component of successful teams, and that has been a plus already.
“They’re great kids to be around,” the coach said. “They are very coachable, they are always on time. They are always around, they want to get better, they put a lot of work in. They like each other. Which makes it more enjoyable, makes it fun to be around guys that truly care about each other. They want each other to be successful.”
Possibly the big takeaway from opening weekend is how the young Hawks responded after an overtime loss that would have left even experienced teams in a funk.
“It was a stinger. We’re up 3 with a free throw to go up 4 with six seconds to go. So if we make the free throw, the game is pretty much over. We miss, and they hit a highly contested 3 at the buzzer to send it into overtime. And then we tie the game with under 10 seconds to go in overtime and they hit a fadeaway 3-pointer to beat us. So that is a tough way to go in Game 1, a highly emotional, highly contested game and a very good club in Butte College. That stung.”
Yet it was the players’ response that bodes well for future success.
“We all felt it. But to the kids’ credit, I was talking to them and was talking about their minds,” Giacomazzi said. “Their minds were all focused. They chewed on it and they wanted to learn from those mistakes of yesterday and try to turn the page as soon as possible and get ready for the next game. I was happy that they didn’t want to have a lull. But they actually wanted to go out and compete and get the bad taste out of their mouth.”
There’s a learning curve, but one should continue to count them among the top playoff contenders Typically Giacomazzi, who took over the Las Positas program in summer 2015, has around a 50-50 split of freshmen and sophomores. Expectations remain sky high for a program that has made the playoffs each season and averaged 20 wins a year with Giacomazzi as head coach.
“We have high expectations and we expect to win games that we play,” he said. “When we don’t we get grumpy. ... We’re going right to the fire and we go right away next week and have two more games.”
Here we go.