Falcons see huge success in All-League honors, but fall in second round of CCS

The Falcons fell to the Jefferson Grizzlies 59-44 in the octafinals of Division III CCS on Feb. 22, ending the season with a 14-11 record overall and 8-4 record in the league.

After struggling during the first half of the league season, going only 2-4, the Falcons were able to regroup and finish their league season on a six-game winning streak that put them as one of the hottest teams in the entire section. 

The streak encapsulated with a notable victory in their final league game, when the Falcons defeated the Fremont High Firebirds 65-28 on Feb. 18. It was one of the Falcons’ best games of the season, with the team hitting 11 3-pointers. 

Senior guard Siva Sambasivam, senior center Leo Cao and junior forward Cameron King were three of the most efficient 3-point shooters in the league; combined, they averaged upwards of 50 points per game during the win streak.

As a result, all three made the all-league team, with King and Cao making first team, and Sambasivam rounding out the second. Junior point guard Tyler Chu finished as an honorable mention.

Because of this successful end to the league season, the Falcons were rewarded with a first-round bye as well as the 8th seed the CCS playoffs. 

Despite the first round bye and home court advantage in the second round, the Falcons fell to Jefferson. A poor shooting night, combined with a late-game injury to King, caused the game to slip away from the Falcons in the final minutes.

“We were doing so well leading up to the game,” added Cao. “We were all super confident that we could have made a deep run in CCS, and it really sucked that our season had to come to an end like that.”

Although they had hoped to play in the finals, the team was still satisfied with their performance. The Falcons will use the off-season to become more versatile by focusing on creating amore “multi-dimensional” offense, instead of only relying on their three-pointers, said Chu.

Since the team will be mainly returning this year, losing only two seniors to graduation, the team is hoping to build upon the solid foundations that they have set up and make a strong CCS push in the 2021 season. 

“I think they are going to be so good,”  said Sambasivam. “We finally clicked towards the end of the year, and since me and Leo are the only ones leaving, they’ll pick up right where we left off.”

The team also expects big strides from King going into next season. After finishing his sophomore year second team all-league, and his junior year on the top squad, he’s expected to have an extremely dominant senior season.

“Even though I wish it could’ve ended a couple of games later for our seniors, I’m satisfied with the season,” King said. “I am tremendously happy with how our team was this year and how tight-knit of a family we are.”