Boys’ basketball loses tough playoff game to Aptos

Small forward senior Tyler Yoshihara scrambled to defend the Aptos sophomore shooting guard Rashuan Wooden in the last few seconds of the CCS Division III playoff game played on the Saratoga High court on Feb. 23. Just as the buzzer went off — or slightly thereafter — Wooden’s 3-point shot swished into the basket, leading the Mariners to a 45-42 victory.

The Aptos crowd celebrated, but on the other end, Saratoga fans burst into protest over the controversial game-winning basket. However, there was discrepancy between the two referees. As one referee seemed to call the basket invalid, the other referee said the shot counted; the latter ended up giving the 3-point shot to the Mariners. The two referees never consulted, and the one who made the final call bolted from the gym immediately afterward.

In a video posted on Facebook by junior Gautham Arunkumar, some people say the ball appears to still be in Wooden’s hand as the buzzer sounds, meaning it should not have counted.

“It was pretty obvious that [the basket] was after the buzzer, so it shouldn’t have counted,” junior small forward Apoorv Kwatra said. “But when we all went to the team room after the game, our coach told us that sports teach us lessons that life isn’t always fair and there are things that we can’t control.”

Because many of the senior boys felt they lost the chance of continuing in CCS, they were emotional in the locker room following the game.

“I felt like we were cheated out on the opportunity to win,” senior power forward Jatin Mohanty said. “I felt awful for my teammates, especially the seniors, because the last game of our careers was decided by one referee.”

Going into the game, however, the Falcons felt pretty confident that they could pull off a win because of the way they had been playing the few weeks leading up to CCS. The Falcons were seeded 12th in CCS while the Mariners were seeded 13th, so both teams knew the game would be close.

“We gave it our all, and we didn’t give up even when we made mistakes,” senior power forward Noah Quanrud said. “Our coach’s mentality was ‘take the next play’ so that really applied to us [for this game] and helped us follow through.”

This was the first time the Falcons faced Aptos this season, and according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel’s coverage of the game, neither team ever held more than a four-point lead. A few threes by senior shooting guard Gabriel Fong and crucial plays by Mohanty and junior center Joel Schneidmiller contributed to the close game.

“Though it was devastating to end the season [with that last call], as a team, we played our best basketball the last three weeks of the season and stuck together,” Fong said.

Though the team is losing six seniors to graduation this year, including Yoshihara, Mohanty, Quanrud, Fong, point guard Joe Eschen and point guard Alex Guo, Kwatra believes that the team has what it takes to make CCS next season.

“We have a strong core of guys and even though we have a young team, with three sophomores currently on [varsity], we will all get more experience to become better players,” Kwatra said. “I know that we can take what we have this season and continue it into the next.”