Sports
BOYS BASKETBALL: Hot Shooting Pushes Harbor Past Aptos
Pirates capture their most important win of the season in head coach Mike Gruber's final home game.
Harbor 57, Aptos 47
The Star: Grinding through an off shooting night, Aptos senior guard Nick Grieves still finished with a team-high 18 points in the road defeat. Grieves had seven points in the first half, but started to heat up late converting on a pair of triples, including a deep one from two steps behind the line in the fourth. Grieves hit the long bomb and was fouled. He knocked down the free throw to cap off the four-point play to pull his team to within eight points with just under two minutes remaining in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League contest.
The Turning Point: A 21-10 burst in the second quarter shot the host Pirates into an impressive 34-17 lead at the halftime break. Harbor guards Colin Gruber and Jon Bogaard combined to score 28 of their teams 34 points in the first half. Aptos came out ice cold, especially from deep. Unable to adjust to the Pirates zone defense early, the Mariners missed 14-of-15 from 3-point land in the first half.
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.The Quote: "They had a huge advantage." —Aptos head coach Joe Smith said. “They got out to a fast start and hit a lot of shots. That allowed them to stay in the zone. They controlled the tempo of the game tonight.”
The Mariners dropped to second place in league with the loss, giving Santa Cruz High the regular season crown.
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“Hopefully our players will learn from this,” Smith said. “Our group has shown resiliency all year. The postseason begins now. Everyone’s record is zero and zero.”
What's Next? Aptos will take part in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League boys basketball tournament next week. First round action begins on Tuesday night.
Bottom Line: It was a sobering end to a 2010-11 campaign that saw the Mariners rack up 19 wins overall, nine of which came in league play. The second defeat to the Pirates left the Mariners in a tie for second place with Harbor going into next weeks league tournament. Grieves and junior forward Jake Harrell both finished in double figures Friday night. Grieves had 18 points and Harrell scored 15 points. Senior guard Charlie Hinga gave his team a nice spark in the second half, knocking down a pair of 3’s along with pushing the pace of the game every chance he got his hands on the basketball.
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