Basketball season actually ends for Gunn… I think.

Sorry for my absence. I meant to go to first girls game but I forgot and the second one I forgot again and I was in Seattle during the CCS Final and I REALLY wanted to go but I couldn’t. Big thank you to Jesse Zwerling (the future of Gunn Sixth Man) for filling in for me and keeping people updated with the latest news on Gunn Basketball.

A few games ago, it was the last Gunn home basketball game in some slightly embarrassing games against Paly. Of course after that there was the CCS home game against Watsonville and after that there was girls CCS Finals, and everyone thought that was the end of the season but it wasn’t because there was this NorCal game against Armijo!

So Gunn is 0-4 in “last games,” so don’t ever call anything a last game.

So in this actual last game (maybe) Gunn faced off against Armijo High School, a really confusing school. Armijo sounds Mexican, their team name was Indians, and their players were black!

The game was on like Donkey Kong as soon as tip off started as both teams applied some full court pressure. Gunn got out to a quick start behind Zoe Zwerling’s (marry me Zoe?) 7 points and held Armijo from scoring much, but Armijo went on a run to narrow the deficit at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter saw Armijo cut into the Gunn lead but I think Gunn was leading at the second half. It was the third quarter when the game went to hell. I believe it’s called third quarter slump. I have it too but it’s okay because I’m a second semester senior and you aren’t. Or maybe you are.

Julia Magic-colander (I would look it up but it only says Magg on facebook and I know your last name isn’t Magg) got into foul trouble and had to sit out for most of the game and then when she fouled out she got really madd. (haha)

Sixth Man had their usual courtside but were forced to go up a row in the third quarter. At the end of the third we were losing so we were like you know what screw this and we stood in our usual courtside and as soon as it happened, the Lady Titans played some great basketball and regained the lead. It was really cool because that was such a defining moment for us. All that energy, effort, gas money, and ticket money put in for the whole season, and the minute we step on the court on the very last game, our Lady Titans go on a run. Moments like that just bring a tear to my eye.

Anyway so the score was 49-48 with Gunn in the lead. Armijo could not make any free throws tonight (I think they were something like 3 for 25 on the night up until that point) and with the game on the line, one of their players sunk a free throw to tie the game at 49. SOMEBODY was like “TOO MUCH PRESSURE” and then they hit the second free throw to give Armijo the lead. Next possession Gunn ran the clock down a little and tried to go for a win but could not make a basket. Gunn fouled again with 2.1 seconds left on the clock (it was more like 3). Armijo went to the line and in typical Armijo fashion, missed two free throws. Of course it is pretty hard to grab the rebound and get a good look with 2.1 seconds left when the basket is on the other end of the court, so I could only watch as the last 2.1 seconds of the season ticked away as the ball was being batted around the hands of Cat Perez and some other Armijo girls.

But Cat had such a scary block on one of the other team’s girls that it should have resulted in negative points for the other team. The Armijo player was about to shoot a 3 and then Cat was just like GET OUT! And swatted it away. I thought it was Matt but it was actually Cat, but what is the difference?

Thank you Gunn girls for a really successful season. Next year is going to be really good because everyone on this team should be returning next season and we played so well even though some of our girls were injured. Sorry for not covering you girls more in the blog. I actually made another blog that I was going to use for girls basketball but I never updated it. Here it is if you were interested.

http://gunnbasketball.tumblr.com/

Hahaha that was a little sexist but it’s okay because I’m not actually sexist.

So once again, a great season. This might be the last recap ever for me unless Clash of the Titans (this Friday!) turns out to be a really good game. But another great game. I wish it could have been a win for us. I’ll just assume this is actually the end, in case there is another tournament coming up. It was fun. It really was.

Memorable Quotes

This section is actually censored.

Actually there was one clean one.

“The gravity is lower down here”

Jacoubouwsky Player of the Game – Cat Perez

Because I’m asking you to go to prom with me!

.

.

.

.

.

.

Just kidding I’m not.

Last home game tonight!

The last Gunn basketball home game will be played tonight at 7PM against Armijo HS in the first round of the Nor Cal Playoffs.

The bracket can be found here:

http://www.cifstate.org/sports/state/basketball/pdf/2011BasketballBrackets.pdf

Just to clarify to anyone who doesn’t understand this playoff, the winner is the state champion. The finalist from the north will play the finalist of the south for the title. So cheer on your team who is playing in the state playoffs!

Armijo is a tough team- we are ranked nearly identically to them in the MaxPreps rankings- 106 in state (Armijo) to 110 in state (Gunn). Armijo is a very good team- this will not be an easy game.

SO, it would be really nice if the crowd could give us the advantage. They play at 7PM tonight. Obviously, wear your 6th man shirt, or wear red.

Thanks, and see you there!

Gunn Girls fall to Paly in CCS Championship…

…But the season isn’t over.

Tonight, the Gunn Girls Varsity Basketball team played their CCS Championship against their rival, PALY, at Santa Clara University.

Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned.

In an uncharacteristic loss, the girls fell to their rivals with a rather disappointing performance. The final score was 54-44.

The Paly squad started strongly, with a double digit lead in the first quarter. Gunn, however, drew many fouls, with starter Julia Maggioncalda getting mulitiple charge calls and steals to keep Gunn close. Several players were in foul trouble early.

In the second quarter, Gunn responded. The Lady Titans got a small run early in the second to get their last lead of the night, with 5:40 left in the second quarter. The game then became all Paly, holding Gunn without a field goal for 12 minutes (free throws were made, however).

In the third quarter, things got a little heated. More physical play led to some roughing, including a technical foul on Paly player Stephanie Allen. Paly, however, continued to score, due to the benching of Cat Perez because of foul trouble. Paly got rebound after rebound, and started to take their time offensively due to their large lead.

As it turned to the fourth quarter, things looked bleak. Gunn was down by a significant margin, and Cat had 4 fouls, leaving her with little room for error while on the court. Paly chewed up the clock on most of their possessions, making it more and more difficult for Gunn to respond with a surging comeback. Paly player Emilee Osagiede fouled out with several minutes left, giving Gunn some hope because the league MVP would no longer be a factor.  A late 3 by Nora Shevick closed Paly’s lead to 10 with about 2 minutes to go. With a minute and a half left in the game, Gunn began to foul. Cat fouled out in the last minute of the game.

Paly made their free throws late, which was disappointing, considering Gunn 6th Man was unbelievably successful in forcing misses, with loud shouts of Shamelia Clay’s name and words like “boner” (see memorable quotes) making the shooters laugh and miss their shots. Gunn couldn’t score on their final possessions. Paly put in their bench players to close out the game, and so did Gunn, with sophomore Karissa Ogawa draining a late 3 in the final moments. Paly won, 54-44.

There is an upside, though. It’s not over. Gunn girls, upon winning their semifinal game on Wednesday, won a spot in the Nor Cal playoffs. The first round is on March 8 (Tuesday) at 7PM at Gunn against Armijo, so if you don’t have much else to do, please come for what will be the last home Gunn basketball game of the season.

The full bracket for the boys and girls teams through divisions I-V are found here:

http://www.cifstate.org/sports/state/basketball/pdf/2011BasketballBrackets.pdf

Gunn is in Girls Divison I at the 7th seed.

In other good news, the girls team had several all-SCVAL players. Claire Klausner and Julia Maggioncalda made all-league first team. Cat Perez was named Junior of the Year, and Zoë Zwerling was named Freshman of the Year.

In case it wasn’t mentioned before, Matt Redfield of the boys’ Varsity team made all-league first team. Jack Hannan and Taylor Perricone made second team, and Anthony Cannon received honorable mention.

On a final note, I would really like to thank the Gunn students for spending their Saturday evening all the way out in Santa Clara University to support the girls team. Without your support, I really have no idea how this game could’ve played out. You also greatly lightened the mood in what could’ve been an unbelievably disappointing evening. I would also like to thank the players for staying strong all season and throughout the CCS playoffs so that they could finally play a game with a large crowd behind them tonight.

Something I would also like to mention:

I think it has been proven that counting down on the shot clock early has done nothing but harm to Gunn basketball. In my experience watching basketball this year, I believe the opposing team has missed only one shot when fooled that the shot clock was nearly 0 all season. In this game, some Paly girl heaved the ball from nearly 30 feet out when we counted down early, and sure enough, she made it. However, when counting down late, and fooling them that they have more time than they actually do, opponents have not scored on us, and multiple shot clock violations have been called when they are still passing the ball around. So from now on, no more counting down early. Only late. Thanks.

I would also like to thank Ms. Stapp for supporting the 6th man, and Mr. Jacoubowsky for, in my opinion, minimizing his control and giving us a lot of freedom in what 6th man was allowed to chant and yell this year.

So just remember, Nor Cal playoffs round 1 on March 8, 7PM, at Gunn, against Armijo.

Thanks so much everyone!

Jacoubowsky Player of the game: Keenan Venuti’s lightsabers, which were waved at the Paly free-throw shooters late in the game from behind the basket, then was escorted away (along with Keenan himself) by Gunn staff.

Memorable quotes:

“Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamelia, Prom?”

“Boner”

“You’re not a fish, so stop flopping”

“Take her whistle!”

Can’t get better than this

Ladies and Gentlemen:

WE OUT TO SANTA CLARA UNIVERSITY!

6PM, SATURDAY, AGAINST PALY.

BE THERE, AND BUY A 6^TH MAN SHIRT NOW IF YOU DON’T HAVE ONE!

You can drive, carpool, or use Cal-train to get there.

The CCS Semifinal:

This honestly will go down as one of the most euphoric games 6^th man could ever witness. It could not have been more exciting if they tried.

However, some pre-game stuff:

• Much thanks to Josh Kern, who picked me up from soccer practice, took me home to shower, and out to Gilroy to watch our team, and back home, we arrived to see #1 in CCS Palo Alto Vikings play the #5 North Salinas whatevers. We were shocked to see the score something like 15-18 in the 3^RD QUARTER. Like really? PALY stinks that much?

We watched the rest of the game, with a few interesting notes.

• I don’t understand how North Salinas got this far; they were quite pathetic on offense. I also can’t believe how much depth girls basketball lacks. They were a #5 team, and were pretty much garbage, minus their point guard.
• They looked a little like this (20 seconds in): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2nxOOWh1sA
  and this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2eWmwpVbWY&feature=related
• PALY also played terribly, and couldn’t take a good shot for their lives for a good 3 quarters. But in the 4^th quarter, PALY finally showed why they are the number one seed. PALY ended up winning 33-22, finishing pretty strongly.
• Fan support made a huge difference in the gym they played—the North Salinas crowd was deafening. The Santa Clara University gym will be like that, so the more voices we have, the better and louder it will be.

6^th MAN:

Gunn 6^th man was seriously lacking, but I understand: winter sports awards and Kiss Me Kate rehearsals prevented many of you from going. But to make up for it, I request you to come to the game, and to wear your 6^th man shirt, or BUY ONE if you don’t have it—I am trying to see if I can get it discounted. Who doesn’t want to have such great memorabilia when we support our team to a CCS championship?

In attendance for the 6^th man squad:

Nikkey Cardema, Josh Kern, Graham Fisher (who came from his baseball game, still in uniform), myself, Hannah and Jordan’s younger brothers, and the great Jacoubowsky.

Then came the big show: #3 Gunn vs. #2 Gilroy, who had only one loss coming into this game. They played like a number 2 seed too; they were no pushover.

The refs were unbelievable. They called fouls that a girls’ lacrosse team wouldn’t call. They also played advantage like soccer and would wait for the shot to miss before they would call the foul. The calls were about this accurate: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-igP_XG-kCo&NR=1&feature=fvwp

Gilroy got off to a quick start, forcing some early turnovers, and quick baskets. We came back stroking some 3’s, and the game became neck-and-neck throughout.

*Technical stuff*: The Gilroy team employed a 3-2 zone, which really tested our offense. However, we did manage to stroke it from downtown. We were lucky we shot well early on, because a few minutes into the game, they dropped their zone and played man-to-man the entire night, and Cat drew many fouls on her low post shots.

At the end of the first quarter, it was 11-11. Both teams were showing strength and the ability to win. Gunn had a big foul advantage at this point. The refs were unbelievably terrible, as mentioned above, but we didn’t complain much because it was to our benefit. I swore early on, and I got that look from Mr. J (that I will be getting very familiar with next year). Gunn drew many fouls, thanks to the low post offense of Cat, but the team shot about 50% from the line, a figure I will never get close to, but still pretty bad.

In the second quarter, Gunn started strong with forced turnovers and buckets. Gilroy responded with buckets of their own. The refs continued to suck. On the last possession of the half, Gilroy looked ugly (they took a half court shot with 4 seconds left, and still had time to take a garbage 3 at the horn), and finished halftime, the game tied 21-21.

The third quarter was also more of the same—strong play by both teams, and a couple of leads around 6 points that got the 6^th man nervous. It’s hard to remember what exactly happened here, but we ended up in foul trouble, but it wasn’t that bad. The quarter ended 29-28 Gunn, but we were by no means out of the woods.

Then came… the fourth quarter. Clutch time, the big finish. We were a little nervous, because Gunn hasn’t had a close win since January, especially with a crowd like this. The Gilroy fans were LOUD, and they let us hear it every time they scored.

Shots and fouls were exchanged, and free throws were taken, but with about 3 minutes left in the game, it all happened.

Gilroy started to get hot. And by hot, I mean one player on their team just wouldn’t miss the glass on every 3 she took. She pulled about 4 or 5 Tim Duncans (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcZLLZU0OzI) in the last few minutes, getting ahead by 4.

At this point, 6^th man got into a famous huddle consisting of Nikkey, Josh, Graham, Myself, two of the players’ younger brothers, and… Mr. Jacoubowsky, with full devotion to the huddle (I was pretty impressed). One of the most significant 6^th man huddles in the history of the club, the huddle’s speech and break got 6^th man ready to outyell the crowd of 200 Gilroy fans.

Gunn went down the floor to set up their offense, down 36-40 with less than 2 minutes to go. The ball was moved to Cat, to the perimeter, to Cat, to the perimeter, and finally, at the 3 point arc beyond the left elbow, Nora let fly her shot. As the ball floated through the air, you could see the moisture dripping off the ball, it was so wet. When it landed, our emotion was indescribable. Just kidding, it was really easy to describe: utter joy and relief expressed through a roar of sound and pumping fists. Down by one, we managed to stop the wealthy point guard from banking all of her 3’s, with Cat running out and rejecting her deposit. Gunn rebounded the deflected shot, and drew a foul in transition. Julia faced one of the biggest 1-and-1’s of her career, and drained both handily, getting us up by 1. Another missed shot by Gilroy due to good defense, we rebounded again and Julia stroked in two more clutch free throws, to put us up by 3. Gilroy rolled the ball out as the clock was down to its last seconds, but it was ridiculously fast to the point guard and had no effect. They faced a stifling defense when they approached, and couldn’t get it to tie. Upon the victory, 43-40, I immediately informed Ramsey of our divine path to complete Palo Altan domination.

Why you need to go to the CCS Championship Game:

1)    WE PLAY FREAKING PALY!! I don’t care if we didn’t win during the season, this is when it counts.

2)    The girls deserve this. All season, the guys have been drawing more crowds, but the girls have done so much this season, and really only draw parents. Saturday is your chance to show them you care (and want them to destroy PALY).

3)    It is the event of the weekend. Like really, what else will there be to do? This is the place to be this weekend.

4)    WE CAN WIN. PALY was cheering for the other team to win in our game. Why? Cause they don’t want to play us. They know they were lucky the last two times, and this time, the Gunn 6^th man attendance will reach an all-time high in Santa Clara University this Saturday. Who wants to face that? We played confidently and with poise, something I think PALY seriously lacked in the majority of their semifinal game.

Jacoubowsky Player of the Game: 6^th Man. It was really great to see at least a few people take the majority of their afternoon during the week to travel to Gilroy and watch Gunn play. A special shout out to

Memorable quotes:

“Are you inhaling or exhaling? I think you’re choking”

“Cheer like you’ve never cheered before. I want your voices hoarse tomorrow”

Mr. J:            “Everyone huddle up”

Zoe on Cat’s block:            “oooh I think you sent that to the wrong address. Lemme uh, just send that back to ya”

Season ends for Gunn

Three months ago I went on WordPress and signed up for a new blog called Gunn Basketball after we thrashed a certain Westmont team in Gunn’s home opener. Earlier today before the game I read through this entire blog and I thought it made zero sense and I have no idea why people like it.

But I guess some people do and I’d like to thank everyone for all the support they have given me.

But this blog is called Gunn Basketball and not Jordan’s Life.

The Gunn Titans hosted the Watsonville Wildcatz tonight at the Gunn Gymnasium. Gunn started the game firing on all cylinders and with a comfortable double digit lead, it looked like we were ready to play the Piedmont Hills team sitting across the gym from us.

The Wildcatz started to catch up and eventually took the lead, but Gunn answered with a run fueled by a Redfield dunk from a great MonTaylor pass.

The Wildcatz were able to cut away at the lead as their 6’8 big man used mind tricks on Matt to get rebounds and managed to score on a lot of putbacks. The referees ability to blow whistles without any contact gave their big man an advantage because they would call fouls if Matt laid a finger on him. Jack Hannan put up a fight and scored a lot of big baskets when we needed them and Jim Hinton and Malik Gill played some of their best basketball of the season.

The game was close down to the end and the score was tied up at 60 with less than 2 minutes to go in the game. Jack Hannan split his free throws but gave the Titans the lead. One of the Watsonville players scored on a drive to bring the Wildcatz back up 62-61. Taylor would miss the free throw on the 1 and 1 and Gunn intentionally fouled Watsonville. They converted on both free throws, and Coach Redfield calmly called for a timeout.

As Taylor dribbled down the court, he threw the ball down to Jack. With precious seconds running off the clock and no one open for a 3 pointer, Jack raced out to the 3 point line and fired a 3 as the shot clock expired. The shot was on line but was just shot long and just like last season, Gunn ends their season with a miss on a potentially game-tying 3 pointer.

Big thank yous to Coach Redfield and all the other assistant coaches for a great season, the whole Gunn basketball team and the 4.0 squad, Mr Jacoubouwsky and other members of the Gunn administration, Travis Cottle and the rest of the desk/scoreboard people, the Gunn Cheer and Song teams, everybody’s moms because they gave birth to them to make this all happen, and of course, the Gunn Sixth Man Club. This season would not have been the same without all of you guys.

Normally at the end of a season people will be all optimistic and be like “Oh our team has a bright future ahead of us,” but I’m not so sure about this one. Juniors, it’s never too late for a growth spurt between now and next December.

Also not to show off or anything but after the game I made a one handed backwards halfcourt shot that was a perfect swish.

I guess the silver lining in all of this is that I don’t have to write anymore game recaps because it was getting really difficult to think of stuff to write. Also I don’t have to hear about this blog for the rest of my high school education and I don’t have to get called in to Mr. J’s office in the middle of my calculus class.

Memorable Quotes

This section has been censored due to CCS rules.

Jacoubouwsky Player of the Game – Jordan Leung

Because I haven’t won one yet and I want to win one.

Now that boys basketball season is over, according to some freakishly tall junior girl (I think her name was Dog?), we have a girls basketball team, so come support the Gunn girls at Hartnell College this Saturday. I don’t know where Hartnell College is so good luck finding it.

GAME TONIGHT!

At home against Watsonville! This will be the last time you will see the Class of 2011 greats such as Matt Redfield and Travis Cottle grace the Gunn gymnasium.

Watsonville just got their Center back in time for their playoff run and although Watsonville has a good league record, they probably play in one of the weakest leagues in the CCS.

Whatever the outcome tonight, it’s a win-win situation. Win because if we win the game, Gunn advances to the next round in the CCS Playoffs, and win because if we lose the game, I no longer have to be bothered about this stupid blog and we can all just forget this ever happened.

Go Gunn!!!!!!!!!

CCS Playoffs Preview

Come out to Gunn’s CCS home game on Thursday!

Here is the bracket this year

http://www.cifccs.org/playoffs/results/10-11/Bsk%20B%20D1%2011.pdf

Gunn will play the winner of the Watsonville/Wilcox match up (played on Tuesday) and will go on to play the top seed in Division 1, Piedmont Hills.

I am not going to get ahead of myself and start predicting wins and start trash talking but I think we may have gotten the luck of the draw. Piedmont Hills does not look like a very formidable team for a top seed. We also have a favorable schedule in terms of travelling. We have a home game, potential games in San Jose, and the championship game is at Santa Clara University, so there is no excuse to not be at each Gunn CCS game.

That’s all for now. Go Gunn!!