BOYS BASKETBALL: Leigh Defeats Mountain View in CCS Quarters

Leigh 64, Mountain View 57

The Stars: Saturday afternoon’s Central Coast Section Division II Boys Basketball Playoff game was a two-part act that the Mountain View High boys basketball couldn’t do anything about to stop. Leigh senior forward Deven Patterson scored his teams first seven points, the versatile lefty lit it up for 16 first quarter points and finished the game with a game-high 22.

Junior guard Trevor Peterson added 17 points of his own, including a smooth finish on the fast break to extend his teams lead to 15 points early in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Nick Wang led the Spartans with 15 points, including three treys.

The Turning Point: After surviving an overtime thriller against Los Gatos on Thursday night, Mountain View was faced with another daunting obstacle in front of them in the early goings against Leigh.

In a flash, the unfazed Leigh High team jumped out to a 9-0 lead to begin the CCS playoff matchup. Patterson played a little game of H-O-R-S-E during the start, knocking down jumpers all over the floor en route to the monster 16-point effort in the first eight minutes of play. Leigh led 25-11 after one quarter of play. The large lead served the No. 3 seed well late in the ball game, holding off a feisty Mountain View team in the final minutes to win the game by seven points.

Mountain View would get as close as five points with under a minute to play, but the cagey Spartans simply ran out of time.

The Quote:  “We wanted to come out and play hard,” Mountain View junior James Watanabe said. “Leigh is a great team. We didn’t play well early but started to make some shots and got back in the game.”

 Leigh senior Deven Patterson noticed the change in the second half as well.

 “We tried to slow the pace down a little and they started to come back on us,” Patterson said. “It’s always good to get out to a quick start,” Deven Patterson said about the big opening quarter for the Longhorns. “We feel that we’re the best team in CCS. We wanted to come out and play well.”

 The win advanced Leigh into Tuesday night’s semifinal round against St. Francis High-Mountain View.

 “We just need to play our game,” Peterson said. “One win and we’re in the finals. It’s really exciting.”

 What's Next? Mountain View finishes the year with a gaudy 21-5 record overall. The Spartans defeated Los Gatos 50-48 in overtime on Thursday night. Mt. View also won the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division title.

 Leigh squares off with St. Francis-Mountain View for the right to play the winner of the Archbishop Mitty and Palo Alto game on Tuesday night. Both games will take place at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills. Game times have not been announced yet.

Bottom Line: Mt. View simply wouldn’t go away quietly into the frigid Saturday afternoon. Sparked by some timely 3-point shooting, along with great energy off the bench from junior Ken Hampel and senior forward Brett Hughes, the Spartans nearly came away with a second wild finish in as many playoff games. Hughes scored 11 points in the game. He was one of three Spartans players to score in double figures.

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Mountain View Scoring

Kaestner-8

Collins-6

Wang-15

Watanabe-10

Sarmiento-3

Hampel-4

Hughes-11