Basketball Camp Tournament Day 1

Basketball Tournament Saturday at Basketball Camp...Photo by Leslie

By Derek

VARSITY GAMES
Game one featured Team Brian Chung playing Team Gummy Bears. Team Gummy Bears dominated the game from start to finish, led by the efforts of Jason Lei. Team Gummy Bears dominated the glass. Sloppy passes by Team Brian Chung were easily stolen and converted to fastbreak points for Team Gummy Bears. Team Gumym Bears rode the game to their first win.

The second matchup was Team Nick playing Team D.S.G. Daniel Lin, Team D.S.G,  started the game out strong, and gave his team an early lead. However, Raymond Lee, Team Nick, inched his team back, and made it more competitive. Ultimately, Team D.S.G. won.

Game three featured Team Brian Chung playing Team Nick. Brandon Khuu, Team Brian Chung, came back strong from their previous loss. In the end, strong team play from Team Nick won them the game.

The last game of the day was Team Gummy Bears playing Team D.S.G. Overall, both teams played sloppily. The game was sent into overtime due to Daniel Lin's two made free throws. Team D.S.G. came back in overtime to win the game.

JV GAMES
By Leslie
Game 1 - Team Justin came out in the game dominating offensively in the first half. All four players - Brendan L., Sophia, Damon, and Nathan L. - contributed to the team's scores. Team Tiff experienced
many missed shot attempts in the first half but Nathan A. found his rhythm in the second half, leading Team Tiff to a one-point victory over Team Justin. Final score 10-9.

Game 2 - Team Justin bounced back from their previous loss with a strong 18-9 victory over Team Amanda. Team Amanda did not leave the game without putting up a fight, seeing aggressive attacks to the basket by Calvin and Ethan L., who also sunk in a 3-ball in the first half. (Yes, we're counting threes in the camp tournament.)

Game 3 - Team Tiff experienced an offensive drought for much of the first half in their first game, but turned it completely around for their second matchup of the day. They came out victorious over Team
Amanda with a 24-14 win. Team Tiff didn't seem to miss a beat with Nathan A.'s dominating lay ups, Sophia's quick shot choices, and Damon's daring drives to the basket. Team Amanda's Calvin went down late in the second half with a banged knee. Brendan came in as an emergency sub to finish off the game.

Justin Luo, Allen, and Amanda made their referee debuts during today's camp tournament games.

Christmas Songs

Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays if you do not celebrate Christmas.

One thing that is big around Christmas is...Christmas music.

KOIT, 96.5 plays Christmas music from the middle of November until now, which I feel is a bit overkill.

But...I thought I would share with you my handful of Christmas songs, so check these out to celebrate your Christmas cheer.

Christmas Performance 2012

Merry Christmas everybody.

6th grade closes 2012 with another win

Even when they're not at their best, the 6th grade finds a way to get it done.

Jonathan hit another three 3 pointers, two in the first half, and one in the second half, scoring 18 points in the 6th grade's fifth win of the season, doubling up their opponent 30-18.

The game was still somewhat close to start the 4th quarter, but a quick 5-0 burst to start the fourth ended it.

Little Johnny buried a three ball and then a perfectly run fast break which saw Michael zip a pass to Jonathan breaking for the basket pretty much sealed the deal.

Defensively, the boys were a little slow and the other team had more than enough chances driving to the basket. And because of that Jason Lei ran into some foul trouble, as he on more than one occasion, tried to swat the ball out of St. Emydius.

He kept jumping in the air recklessly and picked up a flurry of fouls throughout the game.

Still, without his best effort, he still scored 10 points.

Michael added 2 points on a nice lay-up in the first half.

More than halfway through the season, the 6th grade is (5-0) and has clinched a playoff berth.

Right now, things are rolling, but they'll need to stay hungry and avoid a letdown.

They are lined up very nicely for a potential first seed in their division, which could make the road to another championship game a little easier.

7th grade dealt their second straight loss

Jason Ng had a game high 10 points, but it was not enough to withstand a 15 point loss to the top team in the division, as the 7th graders lost 36-21 in their final game before winter break.

The boys trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half, but mentally, the players didn't seem to be there and the energy level was nowhere close to the other team.

Raymond, despite scoring 7 points, was nowhere close his "A" game whatsoever. At times, he goes through spells where he looks disinterested and tired, content with staying on the perimeter instead of being aggressive and taking it to the basket.

The normally steady free-throw shooter shot only 1-for-5 from the line.

As a team, they did even worse, and finished with a 1-for-11 line, a less than 10% percentage. This team cannot shoot.

Arguably their best outside shooter on the team Willard has gone completely silent, as he has not scored in three games after putting up 8 points in the final game of the pre-season tournament.

Offensively, they are challenged as besides Raymond and Jason, they don't get any consistent contributions from anybody.

In a competitive 7th grade division, you can't barely score 20 points and expect to win, especially when the defense is spotty at best.

The other team seemed a lot more in-sync and were able to knock down open shots that helped them pull away from the 7th graders.

The lone bright spots were Thomas and Garrick, who were applauded by their coaches for their hustle and effort in the 4th quarter, but that will to win is lacked by the team as a whole.

It's still very early however in the season for the boys. With their record at (1-2), they still have a lot of time to turn it around.

"They can be so much better," said their coach Jamie. "If only they listened to us and didn't fool around during practice."

4th grade offense in a drought

Giving up 15 points isn't too bad at the 4th grade level, but it's a problem when you only make one shot the entire game on offense.

Brendan hit a long range jump shot late in the first half, which accounted for the only field goal made by the 4th graders Saturday afternoon, as the boys lost 15-3.

They trailed 8-3 at halftime but were outscored 7-0 the rest of the way.

On offense there is just not much happening and the boys are struggling to get good looks at the basket.

In a half court set, the boys are still not skilled enough to make good crisp cuts and passes, therefore their shots are forced up or they turn the ball over.

Like most other CYO teams, fast break points are where they usually cash in, but without any solid rebounding, the team is left with station to station play.

Besides Nathan, nobody on the team consistently grabs rebounds, and Brendan is forced to play post, since the team is undersized and nobody else can grab boards.

In an ideal situation, Brendan should be playing up top on defense so he can take outlet passes off the rebound.

But this team is not build this way as they are very small compared to other 4th grade teams.

The 4th grade hits the break at (2-2).

Saturday Results

The 6th grade improves to (5-0) on the season with a 30-15 victory. Jonathan hit two 3 pointers and had a game high 18 points.

Meanwhile, the 4th grade was dealt their second loss of the season 15-3. Brendan had the only field goal of the game as the offensively deprives 4th graders are now (2-2).

The 7th grade lost by 15, their second straight setback, 36-21 the final there.

Full recaps to come Sunday.

5th/6th grade outscored 12-0 in 4th quarter and lose

For the first time this season, the 5th/6th graders were faced with a full court press.

It rattled them and the end result was a 12-0 run by the other team that went from an 8-6 St. Mary's lead to start the 4th quarter, into a 18-8 loss.

Holding a two point lead just minutes into the fourth, two straight blatant turnovers, and they were blatant, throwing the ball right into the hands of the other team. Those two errant passes led to four quick points by the other team, as they took the lead and never looked back.

It was a slow start for the 5th/6th graders as they trailed 6-0 midway through the 2nd quarter.

But they went on an 8-0 run and took the lead on a Spencer jump shot late in the 3rd quarter.

Andy and Adam both had 2 points in the first half.

Right now, what's hurting them is their inexperience, and that translates to a lot of mistakes that teams that have played for a while do not make.

On several occasions in the first half, teammates fought for the same ball and weren't communicating.

What could've been a wide open lay-up, tipped off the fingertips of two St. Mary's players and the possession was lost.

They also have some size down low, but they do not convert on their lay-ups. The 5th/6th grade had more than their share of looks right by the basket, but they didn't score enough to win this game.

Just four games into their rookie campaign, they are (2-2), which is not bad at all. The two games they've lost could've easily swung the other way had it for a bounce here or there.

They next play in 2013.

Throwback Thursday

We go back to the year 2009 and look back at the Christmas Show from that December.

Happy birthday!!!

Happy birthday to Bryan and his...ducks? Hopefully he isn't as sad as he is in this picture.

-Emily

Highlights from the weekend of 12/15

Happy Birthday Thomas

Happy Birthday to Tommy, graduate of the class of 2010 and not only has he coached soccer for two years, but he is also coaching basketball for the first time this season.

We'd like to thank him for participating.

Fourth time the charm for the 6th graders

The 6th grade boys have won the most basketball games within the last three years of any St. Mary's basketball team, so winning games for them is the norm.

In fact, they've only lost three times in the last two years, all to their opponent Saturday, OLV. So forgive them for being a little giddy after finally beating them 36-32 to take over first place in their division.

After losing their last three games to OLV by a combined 5 points, Jonathan and Jason Lei scored when it mattered most as the 6th grade finally beat their arch-rival.

The 6th grade was trailing 28-26 with less than two minutes left when Jonathan hit one of his three 3-pointers to give St. Mary's a 29-28 lead. He split his free throws the next time down the court and gave the 6th grade a two point cushion.

#24, as we call him in our circles, tied the game on a beautiful move to the basket, and Jonathan answered right back with his own drive to the bucket as the 6th grade regained their lead.

Then #24 repeated the same script and scored another two tough points and the game was knotted at 32-32 with about a minute to go.

Off a quick inbounds, Jonathan found Jason Lei on the wing who then took it to the basket for an easy lay-up to make it 34-32.

After a rare miss by #24, Jason Lei, who could've iced the game by just passing the ball around, took it strong to the hole again and gave the 6th grade a four point lead with about 17 seconds to go, which pretty much sealed the game.

This will most likely not be the last time these two teams meet, as both are having fine seasons, and almost destined to clash again in the post-season.

If anything, they may be joined at the hip, because both teams are so similar they are likely to move into the same division for the next two years if the two squads can keep up their play.

Jonathan had a game high 21 points and Jason Lei chipped in with 11 points. The two combined to score 10 points in the last two minutes of the game which proved to be the difference.

By no means was this the best the 6th grade has looked this year in a game, but they did play well for better portions of the game. They gave up quite a few second chance points off of rebounds, and had trouble occasionally getting back on defense.

Foul trouble hurt both teams as two players on OLV fouled out with less than two minutes to go and they were left with only 4 players to finish the game.

Jason Lei picked up his fourth foul midway through the 4th quarter and was almost relegated to being a statue for the rest of the game.

Both of the teams made their runs, with St. Mary's jumping out to an early lead of 18-9 early in the 2nd quarter.

But OLV stormed right back and went on a 10-0 run to end the first half, and the 6th grade trailed 19-18 at halftime.

One of the unsung heroes of this game was Jason H. who scored 2 points, but more importantly came down with a big rebound which caused a jump ball late in the game. Jason does a lot of little things right that do not get enough attention, as he is often in the right spot at the right time, and he does a good job taking care of the ball.

A good example was late in the game when he could've rushed an inbounds pass to Michael, which would've been disastrous as the other team was waiting to pick off the pass.

Instead, he was patient, waited an extra second and threw a hard pass to Jonathan, who then took it in for a huge bucket. He also assisted on Jonathan's 3 pointer late in the fourth.

If part four was any indication of how intense this rivalry has become, part five should be even better.

Big game by Jackie propels the 5th/6th graders

Jackie had a huge coming out party Saturday in the 5th/6th grade's third game of the year, as he scored a career high 9 points in the team's 18-12 win, their second straight victory.

After missing the first game and going scoreless last week, Jackie opened a lot of eyes with his strong play down low. Although not the biggest player by any means on the court, he does one simple thing a lot of players all ages have trouble doing, and that's make lay-ups.

There was a brief scare in the 1st quarter when Spencer fell awkwardly and looked to have hurt his knee. It didn't look good as he put his leg on the bench as it was being iced down. The injury ended up being not that serious as he then returned later in the first half.

For the second straight week Adam scored 4 points, one off an out of bounds play and another on a nice drive from the high post. He uses his size and strength down low to create space, and he executes nicely by the hoop.

Through three games, this team of eight rookies, half of them 5th graders, already has two wins.

Eric Lei got the first two points of his career late in the game on a beautiful fast break drive to the basket.

In fact, Eric was one of many of the 5th/6th graders who did that throughout the course of the game, but the only one to convert.

4th grade boys make it two straight

Calvin said he woke up Saturday morning at 6 a.m.

So by the time his 8 a.m. game rolled around two hours later, he was ready to go.

He poured in a career high 8 points as the 4th grade won their second straight game, doubling up their opponent 20-10.

The score could've been even more lopsided had the 4th graders converted on their lay-ups and shots by the basket, as they seemed to miss a lot of them in the first half, leading only 4-2 at the break.

Brendan had 6 points to go with some of his assists and Nathan added in 4 points. For the second straight week, Darren had a basket, this week off a nice pass on a fast break from Brendan.

The 4th graders (2-1) have won two straight but now the schedule gets tougher as they'll start playing teams in the upper part of the standings.

They will need to be able to hit their shots on more of a consistent basis, and cannot afford to have quarters where they score only a few points.

Girls soccer shut out

The 7th grade girls soccer team was shutout Saturday afternoon.

It was another improvement as the girls are getting better and better but they are still looking for that elusive first goal.

They had several opportunities but were unable to cash in on them.

There is only one 7th grade girls division in soccer in San Francisco so they are playing against a lot of teams that have girls who play year round.

It's a learning process and the girls are hanging in there. Sooner or later, they should be able to break through.

8th grade outmatched and drop third straight

Sometimes you play in divisions where you don't stand a chance and unfortunately the 8th grade boys had one of those games Saturday afternoon.

They scored 34 points, yet still loss by close to 30 points against a team that should not be in their division.

Rarely do we use that excuse as a reason for a loss, but it held true Saturday.

On the positive side, every player on the team scored, and Brandon Tom continued his torrid shooting with a career high 12 points and three 3 pointers.

They are now (0-3) to start the year and will not play another game until 2013, if there is a 2013...

DeMarillac 7th grade forfeits

It seemed like sooner or later this was going to happen, and Saturday morning it finally did.

The 7th grade DeMarillac boys, with only 4 players at game time forfeited their game and thus dropped to (0-3) to start the season.

They still scrimmaged the other team even though it was a forfeit and actually won the scrimmage by a good 10 points. But maybe the other team was not playing their hardest or their best players? Nevertheless, a 10 point win is a 10 point win. Hopefully even something as minuscule as a scrimmage could boost the team's morale.

They have 6 players on the team, and only 5 showed, albiet the fifth person 15 minutes late.

Early Saturday Results

8 a.m. was no effect on the 4th grade as they won 20-10, improving their record to (2-1). Calvin had a career high 8 points.

The 7th grade DeMarillac team had only 4 players, even 10 minutes after the scheduled start. Even a late ref couldn't stop them from a forfeit.

It was unfortunate because they scrimmaged and ended up winning by over 10 points.

6th grade finally got their revenge, beating OLV for the first time in four tries. The final was 36-32.

8th grade played a team that was in way too low of a division. Put it this way, the boys scored 34 points and the score is probably not printable.

The 5th/6th grade notched win number two with a 18-12 victory. Jackie was on fire and had a career high 9 points.

More to come later.

Week 2 Boys Basketball and Girls Soccer Highlights

Wednesday Wee Hours Of The Morning Quarterback

If you are looking for highlights, so am I...Due to the hectic schedule in the last few days, they will be delayed and should be out early Thursday morning, but for now you can enjoy some of these thoughts.

So most teams are 2 games into the regular season for boys basketball and the girls soccer team, so some brief observations so far for every team. The good, the bad and the ugly.

4th Grade
The Good - The Twins look very improved early on in this season and overall the team looks like they are playing at a higher level. They will need to since they have moved up two divisons.

The Bad - A little inconsistent. When you are leading a team 12-2, the final score should not be 15-13. We saw both the good and bad of the 4th grade so far.

The Ugly - Nothing that ugly so far.


5th/6th Grade
The Good - Each player is playing for the first time and in two games, they already have one win. In fact, their loss in game one was only by 4 points, so definitely a lot of potential.

The Bad - Free throws. Only one made free throw so far in their two games, but that one free throw by Andy won them the game.

The Ugly - Too soon to tell.

6th Grade
The Good - Every player on the team from top to bottom has improved. This feels like the makings of another huge year for these boys. Everybody has had their moment to shine and we are only a few games into the season.

The Bad -  They have played from ahead for most of the year and are prone to give up leads, which they have done a few times. That will be a huge priority. In their division, teams are capable of coming back and they will need to learn how to hold that lead.

The Ugly - Not much ugly.


7th Grade DMA

The Good -  For better or worse, the team is very balanced and there is no one player who can take over, which can be good and then also bad. They are an athletic bunch.

The Bad -  They have had two leads in two games, but have lost both. They can't squander opportunities to win games.

The Ugly - One play in particular in game one where they did not get back on defense, and just watched the other team get a rebound and put it back into the basket.


7th Grade 


The Good -  Jason Ng looks to be very improved and Aaron has already made a shot. Raymond continues to get better.

The Bad -  Turnovers and fouls. They do both way too much.

The Ugly - Fundamentals. They don't have many ball handlers and are prone to traveling and losing the ball mainly because they do not have fundamentals.


8th Grade 



The Good - They show spurts of being a really good team and could be 2-0.

The Bad -  They're not 2-0, and are 0-2. They cannot rebound and until they do, it's going to be rough sledding.

The Ugly - Rebounding and lack of teamwork. This is a team that has played together for five years yet don't seem to completely click. They need to play for each other and not for individual accolades. You rarely ever see this team high five each other on the court, or have someone step in to pick up a teammate who has made a mistake.

The Ugliest - The inbounds last week that showed no effort or lack of concern about winning the game.


Girls Soccer



The Good - The big improvement from Game 1 to Game 2.

The Bad - Game awareness, which should get better with more games.

The Ugly - In the same boat as other new teams, way too early to tell, so no ugly.

Andy's free throw gets 5th/6th grade first win

After he air-balled his first free throw, it would have been interesting to survey the people inside the gym to see who thought Andy would sink the eventual game winning shot.

Tied at 8-8, Andy hit the second of his free throws with 6.2 seconds left, and the 5th/6th graders were winners in only their second CYO game 9-8.

The 5th/6th grade held a 8-4 lead with less than two minutes to go, but the other team had more than enough chances to tie the game.

They finally did off a jump shot on an out of bounds play with under 30 seconds to go in the contest.

Spencer, who had 4 points, then dribbled the length of the court and missed on his jump shot, but Andy was there to pick up the rebound. On his shot attempt, he was fouled hard and then send to the line.

Adam scored the first two buckets of his career and scored 4 points on two incredibly nice drives in the 3rd quarter, which really swung the momentum in the 5th/6th grade's favor.

Playing with a full squad of 8 players, the team looked a lot more energetic and alert as the game went on, something that was quite the polar opposite a week ago.

Jacky, Andy and Eric L. all played their first CYO games Saturday.

It was a great win on many levels, most notably because this is a team of new players, and feeling the taste of victory early in the season will do volumes for the team's confidence.

6th grade puts game to bed early

Jonathan was in MVP form, scoring 14 of his 20 first half points in the 1st quarter alone, as the 6th grade boys improved to (3-0) on the season with a resounding 43-27 win.

He tied a modern day St. Mary's record set by his sister Marissa in 2011, hitting three 3 pointers, all in the first half, scoring a season high 25 points.

It was a case of feeding the hot hand early, and it didn't look like Jonathan was going to miss.

Even from the free throw line, he shot 6-for-7, as the game was pretty much over after 6 minutes, with the boys leading 22-5.

Michael had a nice bounce back game after scoring only 2 points in the team's first two games, as he had 8 points, 6 coming in the 1st quarter, including a buzzer beat three.

The other team was quite physical and were frustrated because they were being outplayed, as there were some hard fouls late in the game.

But the boys, showing signs of growth, played through it, and kept their composure.

If there was one flaw of the game Saturday, it would be their rebounding as they were a step slow on the glass.

Reflected in the lack of boxing out was Jason Lei's point total, which was a modest 6 points for his standards, after he started the year on fire.

However, this is a team that has different players step up at different times, and that's what a good team has. They pick up the slack when one player is having an off day and the end result is still shaking hands after a victory.

Jason H. added 4 points, the most he has had this season.

Girls soccer team making strides

The 7th grade girls soccer team was shutout Saturday 3-0, but don't let the score fool you. They were much better in week two.

After falling behind 1-0 early in the game, the girls had a few good scoring chances, but were unable to connect at the last second.

Their ball pressure on the offensive and defensive side was a lot better as the girls are getting more acclimated to the game of soccer.

With only 10 players to start the game, the girls were already at a disadvantage, but they did enough to stay competitive through the entire game.

Rebecca made her soccer debut.

7th grade crumbles in the second half, lose for the first time

Midway through the 2nd quarter, the 7th grade looked like they were going to be able to weather the storm without The Twins Thomas and Joseph, who were off playing in a piano recital Saturday afternoon.

Garrick and Ryan, the only two true post players on the team playing today, stepped up their game and were dominating the class.

Their defense was at its best in the second, blocking shots, coming up with steals, feeding their transition game.

Leading 12-6, there was a sense that the game was over.

The other team begged to differ and outscored the 7th grade 24-9 the rest of the way, handing the 7th grade a 30-21 defeat in their second game of the season.

One of their coaches Elliot said after the game, the team got too cocky because of the early lead.

In the second half, it was a classic self-destruction with turnovers of all kinds, and the effects of having only 6 players in uniform, which wore the boys down as the game got deeper.

Aaron and Willard both had off games and combined for 0 points, which made the other team's defensive assignment a lot easier.

Jason Ng and Raymond, the two top scorers on the team are both left handed, so the majority of the offense is tilted towards that side of the court.

With the two right handed wing players relegated to just passing the ball back up top, the opponent locked both Jason and Raymond down in the second half.

After a convincing win Friday night, the poor fundamentals by the team was too much to overcome.

They don't handle the ball well and not many of them are comfortable with the basketball. That leads to so many terrible passes, travels, un-needed jump balls and headaches.

Raymond had a team high 12 points and was 4-for-7 from the free-throw line. But Jason and Ryan were a combined 2-for-10.

The start of the 2nd quarter was the 7th grade at its finest, as Jason and Raymond both combined to block several shots, a few which started fast breaks that resulted in points.

Garrick scored his only 2 points of the game off of a nice offensive rebound and put-back off the glass.

But their momentum from the second didn't continue throughout the game.

Late shot gives 4th grade first win

Off the opening tip, it felt like it was going to be a good day for the 4th grade boys basketball team as Brendan coasted in for the first bucket of the game five seconds into the 1st quarter.

It was smooth sailing in the first half, as Calvin and Nathan both had 4 points each and Darren made his first shot ever in CYO play.

Add that together and the 4th grade held a commanding 12-2 lead at halftime.

Second half, different story.

The other team started to make their shots, and the 4th grade (1-1) started to miss, and the gap tightened. And at the end of three, it was 12-10 as their opponent outscored them 8-0 in the 3rd quarter.

Brendan gave the boys some much needed breathing room when he split a pair of free throws midway through the fourth, but the other team made a jump shot and hit a free throw to tie the game at 13-13 with about two minutes to go.

But Brendan bookended the game by scoring the game's final basket on a bank shot off of a fast break, which gave the boys the lead, and eventually their first win.

He had a team high 5 points.

It was the good, bad and ugly all in one Saturday for the 4th graders.

They were rolling for a while, and then in the 3rd quarter, everything went wrong. Lack of defense, turnovers, missed easy shots.

Consistency will be the key as the 4th graders need to up their games in year number two. The division and the competition is better than their rookie season.

Saturday Results

The 4th grade led by as much as 10 at half time, but did not score in the third. Their lead was cut to two,  but the boys managed to hang on and win 15-13. They are now (1-1).

Andy broke a tie with 6.2 seconds left in the 5th/6th grade game with a free throw, as his team won for the first time ever 9-8 to improve to (1-1).

6th Grade improves to (3-0) with a 43-27 victory.

7th grade could melted down in the second half after a good first half and lost for the first time this season 30-21. They are also (1-1).

And the Girls Soccer Team was shut out 3-0, but much better than they were last week. A good step forward in the right direction for the 6th/7th graders.

Full recaps to come later tonight.

Aaron's basket the highlight of 7th grade's first win

It didn't take Aaron long to get the monkey off his back, as he made his first career bucket early in the 2nd quarter in 7th grade's 26-12 win.

After not making in grades 4-6, Aaron made his return to the court this year and is already making strides.

The 7th grade jumped out to an 11-0 lead and held a 14-2 advantage at halftime.

Jason Ng had a career high 10 points, and Raymond hit 6 of 8 from the free throw line for 8 points.

It will be a quick turnaround and a bigger challenge Saturday as they will be without both of The Twins, who are playing in a piano recital at the same time.

Their two post players, Garrick and Ryan will need to rebound and be tough down low like they were Friday night.

The game might've been even more lopsided if the team was better fundamentally.

Both of The Twins have great speed but cannot dribble well to say the least. And Willard also has some trouble handling the ball.

They do have a makeup of a team that can do well as they jumped another division after last year's playoff appearance and (7-1) regular season record.

But the basic triple threat, and looking up while dribbling still escapes their routine.

The story of the night, even though it was 2 points, was Aaron's made shot.

When you can get players up and down your lineup contributing, it brings the spirit of the team up, as many of Aaron's teammates congratulated him after his big shot.

Thomas, Joseph and Garrick all added in 2 points in the victory.

8th graders lose lead in 4th, collapse at the end

The 8th grade boys basketball team had a three point 4th quarter lead, self destructed in the final three minutes of the game, and have now lost their first two games to start the season.

For the second straight week, the 8th grade (0-2) was victimized by a player on the other team who would not settle for anything less than the basketball. And for the second straight week, the 8th graders didn't have one of those players.

Not only was #25 on the other team a ballhawk, he scored 27 points.

For a while, it looked like the 8th grade was going to be able to overcome #25, and their inability to box out and rebound, for their first win. Justin put the boys ahead 34-31 on a 3 point play less than 30 seconds into the 4th quarter to make it 34-31.

Then the 8th grade scored one point the rest of the night.

For the second straight game, they let a game that could've been their's slip away. But in the standings, the only columns that matter are the wins and losses.

Trailing 35-34, the 8th grade had a great chance to tie it up, but Brendan missed on a lay-up right by the basket. He gets himself into good positions to score, but he does not go up strong, which is a flaw that has been pointed on to him many times.

For someone with his strength, he needs to go up strong. Instead, he took a step back and faded away just a little bit, enough for his shot to miss.

Justin had a game high for the second straight week with 17 points. Brandon Tom had a great night offensively as well with 9 points, while Daniel chipped in with 8 points.

But in their division, they needed more of a team effort, and they got a combined 1 point from Moises, Brandon K. and Brendan, with the one point on a Brendan free throw.

What is the most frustrating thing about watching this team is that they have the ability and the talent to win and be successful, a sentiment echoed since they were in 3rd grade 6 years ago.

But in 8th grade, some of the same problems exist and it's difficult for them to grow as a team and win games when they repeat the same mistakes.

This is not like last season's 8th grade team, which found themselves two divisions two high, and on their way to losing every game by double digits.

The boys in the class of 2013 are one of the most athletic classes in recent memory, but their inability to work together as a team and sometimes desire to get better sets them back.

It was summed up perfectly late in the game when they trailed by 5 points.

Right after a made bucket by the other team, one of the 8th graders' carelessly one handed a pass inbounds intended for Justin that went right to the other team. It resulted in another easy bucket for the other team.

There was no focus, effort or any attention to detail behind that poor pass other than just being careless and conceding defeat.

What was a three point deficit with less than two minutes to go, turned ugly and became a 10 point loss.

The talent is there, but something else is still missing. And if the 8th grade can't find it, it's going to be a long 8th grade year.

7th Grade DMA can't hold lead, lose second straight

The 7th grade DeMarillac boys took a step in the right direction Friday night despite a 14-10 loss, their second straight to start the season.

Matthew had a career high and team high 6 points, while Chris and Alfonso both had a bucket each.

They held leads of 8-4, and even 10-8, but were unable to hold either of those leads.

Trailing 4-0 to start the 2nd quarter, the boys scored 8 points and took a four point lead into the half.

The other team tied it up at 8-8 heading into the final quarter, where Alfonso gave the 7th graders (0-2) a brief 10-8 lead.

This was definitely an improvement over game one where the team was pretty lost for the bulk of the game.

With two games played, the team will look to improve upon these games and look to pick up a win or two before the winter break.

Happy Birthday Jamie

And a look back at her past birthday videos as well...

Week 1 Boys Basketball and Girls Soccer Highlights

Monday Night RAW Video

6th grade gets second win in as many days

Jason Lei is a center, but don't tell him that.

He hit two 3 pointers and had career high 21 points in the 6th grade's 39-27 win, making it two straight victories, as they opened the season with a back-to-back Saturday and Sunday.

It didn't get off to that pretty of a start as the 6th graders actually trailed 9-6 after the 1st quarter.

But they really tightened up their defense for the rest of the half and took a 16-11 lead into the break, outscoring the other team 10-2 in the 2nd quarter.

Heading into the fourth, the 6th grade (2-0) was clinging to only a 20-19 lead, but really poured it on in the first few minutes of the final quarter, and extended their lead to as high as 13 with a few minutes left in the game.

Anchoring the push was Jason L. and his pair of 3 pointers, and Jonathan who finished with 8 points on the night, including a three ball of his own.

Justin, who had a nice floater in the 1st quarter, and Ryan both played some really good defense throughout the second half, and were praised by their coach Leslie after the game.

Jason H. scored his first two points of the season on a perfectly executed play that saw Jason L. lob a pass down the court to the person who shares his name, who then finished it with an easy lay-up.

Allen continued his improvement and had a career high 6 points. Coming into this weekend, Allen had never scored in a CYO regular season game.

So far, they are the only St. Mary's team that has won regular season games.

4th grade falls hard in first game

The 4th grade boys dropped their season opener Sunday afternoon.

Not much more to say besides that besides the other team played a real good game, and the 4th graders did not.

Turnovers cause 7th grade DMA to drop game one

In their first basketball game ever, the 7th grade DMA team was outscored 6-1 in the last 3 minutes of the game and lost 13-7.

Trailing by on a bucket, three costly turnovers by the DMA boys led to three unanswered buckets, and that sealed the deal.

Matthew had a modest team high of 3 points, while Edson and Alfonso both had 2 points a piece.

A huge problem the team has right now is they do not have anybody who can handle the ball, let alone a point guard. Dribbling and taking care of the all important basketball is a huge concern and it needs to be solved quick.

All in all it was a sloppy game by both teams and the team that won just didn't play as bad as the team that lost.

Luckily, in a five team division, these two teams will meet again in the regular season.

By then, the 7th grade DMA boys hope to be in better shape, and perhaps have an extra body of two, as they played the entire game with only five players.

6th grade turns it on at the end for win

With a little over 3 minutes left in the 6th grade boys season opener, Jonathan was face down on the gym floor in an all too familiar sight.

As he tried to elude a defender, he banged hips with a player on the other team and hit the ground hard.

Like a trooper, he got back up and finished the game, and so did the rest of his teammates.

The 6th grade did just enough at the end to secure a 28-22 win on a first end of a back-to-back to open the season.

Nursing a 23-20 lead, Jason Lei hit a free throw to make it 24-20. Jonathan then stole the inbounds, put up a shot that was rebounded by Jason and put back in to extend the lead up to 6 points.

The other team responded with a field goal to make it a 4 point game, but Allen hit a big shot late in the game to extend their lead to 6 points. It was his first ever field goal in CYO regular season play.

Allen looks a lot more confident on the court and is not afraid to shoot the ball. The same could be said for Justin and Ryan, who are all looking for their own shots this year and taking the shots when given the opportunity.

Jason Lei had a game high 15 points and hit his first CYO 3 pointer.

He had more than enough chances in the second half to possibly even double his point total but he missed on a lot of shots close to the basket. Part of his struggles led to the 6th grade not scoring a single point in the 4th quarter until two minutes were left in the game.

They jumped out to a 10-2 lead, but the other team made a furious comeback and the 6th grade only led 16-14 at halftime.

They play again Sunday night at 5 p.m.

Girls soccer team shutout in debut

The 7th grade girls soccer team was shutout in their first game ever.

They had only one day of practice before Saturday's season opener.

5th/6th graders fall in 8 a.m. game

The 5th/6th grade boys basketball team became the second team in school history to play in an 8 a.m. game. But the boys were on the losing end 10-6, as they played in their first game ever.

They tied the game with a 4-0 3rd quarter to make it 6-6 at the end of three, but were outscored 4-0 in the final six minutes.

It took them a while to get acclimated to the pace of a real game, evident by their awareness to start the game.

Little things like getting back on defense or inbounding behind the line were all new to this team. It didn't help that only five of the team's eight players were present at the game, so Adam, Spencer, Alfonso, Eric and Bill played the entire game with no rest.

Having substitutions would've helped, especially late in the game when everybody started to wear down.

The game was up for grabs heading into the 4th quarter thanks to buckets by Bill and Spencer to close out the third.

With 3 minutes left, the boys had a costly turnover at mid-court which led to the eventually game winning bucket.

Offensively, they had some trouble getting off some clean shots and everybody was a little bit hesitant to shoot the ball. But given it was their first game, it was not much of a surprise.

There were times in the game where you could see the potential, and this could be a decent team as the season continues.

After getting accustomed to a game, they should be better come game two.

In the stands for this early game was The Great Gavin Chan was at the game, showing support for his alma matter.

The last time St. Mary's played an 8 a.m. game was in 2008, when the current 8th grade boys were in 3rd grade and won 24-0. Brandon K. notched his career high with 16 points in that contest.

8th grade physically dominated on boards, lose by 3

You can't win if you can't rebound. The 8th grade did not rebound, therefore the 8th grade lost.

The final score was 30-27.

In their first game of the regular season, the 8th grade was a step slow to the ball, did not box out, and were outworked.

If not for a 10-0 run in the last two minutes and change, the margin of defeat would've been in the double digits.

What makes this a little more frustrating is their lack of energy in the first three quarters, and their station to station approach.

Besides Justin, nobody did anything until the final few minutes of the game. And by then, it was way too late.

Justin had 8 of the team's 11 points in the first half and finished with a game high 12 points.

Down 30-17 with a little over two minutes to play, Brendan hit a free throw, which preceded back-to-back 3 pointers by Daniel and Moises, which cut the lead to 30-23.

After Justin hit a field goal, the 8th grade got the back back down five. Moises was fouled and went to the line for a 1-in-1 with 2.1 seconds left and hit both, trimming the deficit to 3 points. But there wasn't enough time on the clock as the other team ran out the clock and escaped with a win.

Although not the end of the world, this was a game the 8th grade needed to win, because their opponent is not considered one of the better teams in the division. In an eight game season, every win or loss can make or break the season. So it'll be an uphill climb starting with their next game in about a week.

Uphill was how the 8th grade had to play all night because they couldn't rebound.

They went into the 2nd quarter tied at 7-7, but it was the hustle points that put the 8th grade behind 14-11 at halftime.

The lack of rebounds continued to torment them in the 3rd quarter when the other team stretched their lead out to 9 points.

Collectively, every player on the court did not come up with a crucial loose ball or a big rebound when they needed it. The second chance points really did the 8th grade in Friday night.

Height wise, they are not a big team, but they do have some strong bodies down low. Both Brendan and Daniel are more than capable of being physical. Brandon K. and Moises both have decent height, but none of them are willing to commit to getting a body on someone and get the ball at all costs.

There was a player on the other team that was committed and he was the difference in the game. #34 was flying everywhere and seemed to chase down rebound after rebound. He too played the bulk of the game, if not the entire 28 minutes, but still looked fresh during crunch time.

Midway through the third, the 8th graders looked battered and tired.

Offensively, they are going to need more production from everybody but most notably Daniel, who was held to 1 point until he hit his three late in the game.

Brandon Tom, who hit a few big shots in the tournament was held scoreless.

Brandon K. missed two wide open lay-ups and Brendan also missed a shot right by the basket off a nice feed from Justin. All those missed opportunities loom large, especially when a team loses by three.

Brendan hustled for all four quarters but because he moves so awkwardly on the court, he only came up with the ball a few times. His balance is not very good and he tumbles all over the gym floor on a game to game basis. If he can control his body a little more, he'll be extremely valuable to the team, which needs as many possessions in a game that it can get.

There are only 6 players on the team currently, and their head coach James will not be with the team for the first three games. He is overseas in Asia.

7th Grade Girls Soccer Schedule

Boys Tournament Highlights 2012

Boys Basketball Schedules

Below are the basketball schedules for the boys season, they are subject to change. Click on the thumbnails to enlarge. UPDATED ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28!!!

4th Grade

5th/6th Grade

6th Grade

7th Grade DMA

7th Grade

8th Grade

Happy Birthday Brandon

See, I remembered...



Last year's video:



And the year before:

4th grade drops second straight

The 4th grade lost 26-13 in their 3rd place game for the CYO Preseason Tournament.

It was a good distribution in scoring as Nathan scored 6 points and Calvin had 4 points. Brendan added 3 points.

6th grade takes consolation crown

Every player on the 6th grade boys basketball team scored as Jonathan and Jason L. combined for 30 points in their 42-8 win Saturday in the Consolation Championship of the CYO Preseason Tournament.

Justin, Ryan, Jason H., and Allen all hit field goals in the lopsided victory.

At one point in the game, it was 20-0 and then 30-3 at halftime.

The 6th grade overmatched the other team from start to finish.

Jonathan had a game high 16 points and Jason L. trailed him by only a basket with 14 points.

Michael added 4 points.

It was a good two bounce back games for the 6th grade after dropping a heartbreaker in game one of the tournament.

7th grade comes up short in final round shootout

The good news for the 7th grade boys basketball team, every one of their seven players scored on Saturday.

The bad news, only one of them made a shot in the 4th quarter when it mattered the most.

Nursing a 31-28 lead after three quarters of play, the boys hit just one field goal in the final seven minutes of the game and lost 36-33 in the 3rd place game of the CYO preseason tournament.

This game was back and forth from the beginning as both teams were shooting out of their minds, especially in the 1st quarter.

Willard had a career high 8 points and hit two 3 pointers in the 1st quarter, but did not score after that as the two teams went into the 2nd quarter tied 12-12.

After being held scoreless Wednesday night, Raymond bounced back with a team high 9 points.

The other team did not have much going on inside, but they were launching from the perimeter and hitting. At times they were left wide open around the arc and were pretty consistent in hitting their shots.

Every time the 7th grade would hit a big shot, the other team would come right back and do the same, which made for a very entertaining contest.

But what was entertaining for the crowd was equally as frustrating for the team.

Down 34-33 with less than two minutes to go, the 7th grade had numerous opportunities to go in front, but instead took low percentage shots and turned the ball over.

"We decided to shoot the worst shots, throwing up (prayers) when we still had plenty of time on the clock," said coach Elliot Wong.

"We had plenty of opportunities to win a game that should have been won, but we just couldn't capitalize when it mattered the most."

From the free throw line, Raymond was more than solid, as he went 5-6. The same can't be said for the rest of the players on the team who went a combined 2-6.

Ryan, Garrick and The Twins are all great hustle type players when it comes to getting to balls by the basket. But they all have the same problem in that they can't score like forwards and centers should down in the post.

All of their shots are fundamentally flawed and when they are around the basket, the shots taken look borderline offensive as they sometimes fail to even hit rim, and in some cases throw it over the backboard.

The good thing is they are getting the opportunities. But sooner or later they have to finish.

One of the nicest plays of the game was when Jason Ng ran the 2-on-1 fast break to perfection when he fed Joseph on a pretty pass which resulted in an easy lay-in.

8th grade clings on to win third place

Despite turning the ball over 10 times in the first quarter, the 8th grade boys held a 10-0 lead after one and extended it to a 14 point lead by halftime.

However, the other team would not go down without a fight.

One basket at a time, they slowly chipped away the 8th grade's lead and cut the lead to as little as three points with less than a minute left to go. That's when Moises went two for two from the line to extend their lead to 5.

The 8th graders went on to win 41-35.

After an atrocious free throw percentage heading into the third game of the preseason tournament,  they rebounded well and shot 7-11 as a team. 

Justin, who declined to talk to the media after the game, had a game high of 13 points, but was plagued by turnovers in the 1st quarter. He did settle down as the game went on and was much more secure with the basketball.

Brandon K. had one of his best games in recent memory and scored 6 points points in the second quarter alone which really swung the momentum in favor of the 8th graders.

Brendan also had a nice performance and scored 6 points.

With today's win, the 8th grade takes third place in the preseason tournament.

They are the only St. Mary's team up until this point to win the first and last game of the tournament.

Correspondent Emily contributed to this report.

Saturday Tourney Recap

The 8th grade boys' 14 point lead at the half was cut to four in the last few minutes of a game that exhibited way too many turnovers. However, they did cling on to win 41-35, taking third place in the preseason tournament.

The 6th grade took the consolation crown in their tournament with a dominating 42-8 win. Jonathan had a game high 16 points.

And the 7th grade fell just short in a 36-33 loss for third place in their tournament.

Full recap to come later today.

Friday gets black for 8th grade

The 8th grade boys basketball team had to play catch up the entire night and lost 38-29 in the second round of the CYO preseason tournament.

Their loss after winning Tuesday night puts them in the 3rd place game Saturday morning at 11 a.m. The game will be played at Mission Dolores.

What really hurt the boys more than anything else was their inability to grab rebounds. At best, they were way below average when it came to getting boards. They are a bit undersized as they are still playing without Christian and it's unknown at this time whether he will rejoin the team.

But as Leslie likes to point out it doesn't matter how small or big you are, but as long as you box out, you can grab the rebounds. Problem is, the 8th graders did none of that.

Brandon K., Brendan, Moises, Daniel all had difficulties controlling the glass down low and it led to so many easy buckets for the other team.

Another glaring problem is their stamina which is going to be tested game in and game out since they currently only have 6 players on the team.

Their press can work at times, but as the game gets longer, they start running out of gas and are susceptible to not getting back when they press, which is exactly what happened tonight.

Even when they weren't pressing, they had trouble retreating on defense. By the middle of the 3rd quarter when the other team had stretched their lead out to 12, the 8th grade looked gassed.

Justin, who had a team high 14 points, had a better game scoring wise and hit two 3 pointers, but turned the ball over a few too many times. He's also had trouble finding his stroke from the free throw line where he is normally very reliable. He is 0-for-5 so far in the tournament.

Brandon Tom hit a three for the second consecutive game and scored 5 points.

City Football Championship

Lincoln vs Mission....It all came down to this!

5th/6th volleyball grade post mortem

Seems so long ago, and this post probably should've came a week or two earlier, but better late than never.

What went wrong for the 5th/6th grade?

For starters, a team that served so well in the regular season did not serve well in the playoff game.

I look back to one point in the first set when the girls were up 10-7 and Kaela was on serve. Right there, I thought was the chance the girls had to really pull away in the first set and take it.

Unfortunately Kaela faulted.

That's not to place the blame on Kaela alone, because every girl on the team I believe faulted at least once if not more.

In the younger grades, especially when you are playing in games that could make or break you, half or even more than half the battle is mental. The girls were clearly rattled.

Whoever won that first set, was likely going to win the match, so when the 5th/6th graders loss, it was a steep climb from there.

The second set was a disaster from the start and the girls dug too deep a hole.

Had they won the first set, I think they would've won the game. The other team needed the first set as bad as the St. Mary's girls.

When these two teams played in the regular season, a handful of girls on the other team were in tears after the game.

So if they had lost the first set, doubt would've began to creep in, and the night would've belonged to the 5th/6th graders.

Where this game was lost might've come even before the playoff game.

The last game of the regular season, the girls lost in one set, because the first set was forfeited. They could've, should've beaten that team. But they didn't.

Problem again...the serving.

There were also a few balls that hit  no man's land late in the set too, but since they lost that game, they were forced to play the No. 1 team as a No. 4 seed.

With that being said, Cornerstone, the only team that beat the girls in the regular season besides the last game of the year, won the championship.

So then again, who knows how that would've played out?

Naomi and Emily, both in the 5th grade were huge to this team. I will always remember Naomi diving to save that ball against Mission Dolores during the regular season. Her lefty serves show shades of Isabelle.

And Emily, very powerful, but she just needs to be more accurate. She is similar to a relief pitcher who throws gas but has no control.

And because the girls from DeMarillac say I don't mention them enough on the blog, I will here in closing.

Britney, Vivianna, Katrina and Shelvy were all really good players in their first year.

I've seen a lot of 6th graders start volleyball and even some 6th graders play volleyball who have been playing for a few years and I think as a whole, these four are the best bunch I've come across in the five year history of volleyball.

One thing they could definitely work on is their confidence.

Following the 7th/8th grade championship, which Katrina and Vivianna attended, I said to them, "That's going to be you someday."

They both shook their heads in fear.

I sincerely believed what I said, and now it's time for them to believe it too.

Wednesday Night Tournament Recap

The 6th graders bounced back from their loss in round one with a 34-17 victory.

Jason Lei had a career high of 20 points in the win and Jonathan played just three days after injuring himself and scored 6 points in three quarters of play.

Missed lay-ups were a theme in the game that kept the score somewhat close.

This was a game where even though the boys dominated, it felt like a game they should've won by a lot more.

No better example than Jason L. who struggled in the 3rd quarter on the offensive end, and he dropped 20 points in the game.

After an intense and close game Sunday, this game was a lot more relaxed and the tension wasn't as high.

With the win, they will go on to the Consolation Championship Game Saturday at CYO Serramonte. Tipoff scheduled for 3 p.m.

4th grade beaten in round two
Not so good news for the 4th grade who were beaten 23-3 after they won game one on Sunday.

It was a game coach Justin Lee described as a "David vs Goliath" with the other team playing the role of the latter.

Outmatched in every facet of the game, the 4th grade was limited to what it could do on both ends of the court.

They will conclude the tournament Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. from CYO Serramonte.

6th/7th Grade Soccer Post-Mortem

The 6th/7th grade soccer team, Championship Game runner-ups

All but three kids in the picture above had ever won a single CYO soccer game coming into this year. In the big picture, what a great season. They made it to the championship game and fell just a bit short.

Why did they fall short?

Simple. They didn't score.

Not that they were a juggernaut when it came to putting balls in the net, but at least they did so on a more frequent basis during the regular season.

They were shutout twice in the regular season, once by SVDP, a 5-0 drubbing, and then a 2-0 scrimmage loss to St. Charles.

In the playoffs, they combined to score one goal, on what most would say on a goal that the opposing goalie completely butchered.

However, in that game, the boys controlled the attack zone and had numerous scoring opportunities.

The same cannot be said of the championship where they had minimal chances and when they did have the shot, they missed.

From top to bottom, not one unit played well.

The forwards up front didn't score.

The mid-fielders could not keep the ball in front of them or move it up to the forwards when they had the chance.

And the defense had breakdowns that are inexcusable.

Goal #1 should've never been a goal. One player on the other team was able to fight off two or three defenders into the corner. On the cross to the middle, the goalie should've taken charge and just caught that ball. And then lastly, the defender there shouldn't have used his hand to knock it into the net.

Goal #2 was just a breakdown on many levels. The ball went by the midfielders and defenders way too easily and set up a 2-0 against the goalie, and the score became 2-0.

Goal #3 should've never happened. On a goal kick, instead of sending the ball forward or cradling it, the St. Mary's player ducked like he was afraid of the ball. The other team took advantage and basically sealed the game.


Let's get to some positives of the season.

All the St. Mary's kids dramatically improved.

It helps when they don't have to be counted on to score goals and do too much.

Ryan, Jason and Garrick all played their best seasons on defense and mid-field. The Twins became legitimate threats to score goals, and Raymond notched his second goal of his career.

Alan tied Eloy for the most goals in a season and will likely have the record for most soccer goals in a career by the time he graduates in two years. And his supporting cast from DMA, Jaime, Jeffrey and Julian all had real solid rookie seasons.

Andre, who joined the team this year, scored a goal late in the season and proved that he could be a scorer, while Dante anchored the defense like he did last year.

Nick threw his weight around like normal and Oscar developed into a pretty steady goalie.

All in all, a very successful season where we saw the development of everybody on the roster.


However, this one is going to sting, because there is no guarantee that the team will get back to this spot next year.


With a championship berth, it means going up a division. And in soccer, going up a division is night and day. The teams they played in the playoffs will most likely be the easy part of their schedule.

Also, where do these players go?

With five players from the 7th/8th grade joining this team next season, will this be a team of close to 20 players, or will the 6th graders have enough players to form their own team?

Lots of questions in the off-season for soccer, because this team may have played their final game together.

Tuesday Night Tournament Results

The 8th grade squandered a 9 point second half lead, but managed to pull away in the final two minutes of the game when they went on a 10-2 run. They won by a final score of 37-29.

Daniel and Brandon Tom hit back-to-back 3-pointers which stretched their lead out to 6 points. The two before mentioned 8th graders both hit two 3-balls in the game.

Moises made his basketball debut with the 8th grade after playing on last year's 8th grade team, and experienced his first ever basketball win as he had 10 points, trailing only Daniel who had a high score of 13 points.

All six players on the 8th grade scored.

They will play Friday night at 8 p.m. from Mission Dolores in the winner's bracket.

7th grade blown out in loss

Raymond was held scoreless and the 7th grade was beaten decisively 34-7 in round two of the preseason tournament.

Jason Ng led the team with 6 points and one of The Twins hit a free throw to complete the scoring.

They were never in the game, and will move on to the 3rd place game, 1 p.m. on Saturday at Epiphany.

Hi, it's 1 a.m and I'm blogging

It's been a long time since I have been able to just sit down and blog and pontificate on everything.

Right now, it is currently 12:55 a.m. on Tuesday morning and by the time I post this, it will be after 1 a.m. - hence the blog post title.

I am watching WWE Raw on my DVR as I am digesting two pizzas and a cherry 7-up.

Ok, onto some St. Mary's Athletics matters.

What an incredible night it was Friday night to see our 7th/8th grade hoist the first place trophy by winning the volleyball championship.

Unofficially, I think the last one our school won was in 2003, 9 years ago.

We brought volleyball back in 2008, so to finally come through with a win was so gratifying.

This was the third time a volleyball team made a championship game, but the first team that broke through.

One thing I was afraid of was that the girls would be too excited or just happy to have made the championship, which I think a lot of teams suffer from. Maybe maybe, or perhaps that was what happened to the soccer team, but I was definitely worried the girls might've thought that way.

Sometimes mentally you say, "It's okay if we lose cause we made it this far."

No, not true. If you have that mentality, you are destined to be 2nd place.

By watching the girls perform on the big stage, you didn't get that feeling. They wanted it. Not only did they talk a good game, but they walked it.

Enough about them.

Quick note about soccer. The other team was probably just the better team. Could the 6th/7th graders have won that game? Yes. But they needed to play well, and I think they probably played a little below average at best. Not awful, but way too many mistakes in a championship game to say that they should've won. More on that game later this week.

Now, it's going to be a busy week and it will be post after post after post. What should you do? Sit there and read every single word, and watch every single video, starting with this one.



So, I will do my best to dedicate more time to the blog and come up with new things for you to read, or watch or maybe even listen to...

And it will start Tuesday night with the 6th/7th grade soccer team post-mortem where we look at what went wrong in the championship game and then reflect on the entire season.

I will do the same for all of our teams in the upcoming week, and then next week, we will preview every single basketball team leading up to their first games next weekend.

The tentative schedule:

TUESDAY - 6th/7th grade soccer post-mortem
WEDNESDAY - 5th/6th grade volleyball post-mortem

And adding to that, we'll have recaps of all the tournament games, as well as other surprises.

So until then...

Bryan is spelled with a Y.

4th graders coast to round one win

Brendan and Nathan combined to score all the points in the 4th grade boys' 19-5 first round tournament win.

Their next game will be Wednesday night at 7 p.m. also emanating from CYO Serramonte.

7th grade beneficiary of a forfeit win

The 7th grade boys basketball team won via forfeit and then won a scrimmage game after that 24-22.

Five of the team's eight players were coming off the soccer loss yesterday so the team has yet to have real consistent practices.

They had a brief shoot-around and walk through this morning.

Their next game will be Tuesday at Epiphany with tip-off at 7 p.m.

6th grade blows big lead, loses by one

Better to blow a 15 point lead in a tournament game than a regular season or playoff game right? Well, that's the way the 6th grade boys will have to look at it.

In a rematch of last year's championship, the 6th grade boys basketball had an epic meltdown and blew a 27-12 halftime lead and lost in the final seconds of their first round tournament 40-39.

Their championship last year, also a one point loss.

For everything that went right in the first half, it went wrong in the second.

The boys were hitting threes, playing great defense, making lay-ups and free throws in the first 12 minutes of the game. In the final 12, they did none of that.

Adding injury to insult, Jonathan dove for a ball with about 15 seconds left in the game and injured his knee, which forced him to leave the game. He is listed as day-to-day.

Without him, the team was unable to hold their one point lead, as the other team scored with less than 10 seconds left to take the lead.

Off the inbounds, Michael turned the ball over when he threw a pass towards Allen who was clearly making his way downcourt and not expecting a pass. And that was the ballgame.

After putting up 27 points in the first two quarters, the 6th grade was held to 12 in the second half, but a more glaring 2 points in the 3rd quarter when they were thrown around by the other team, which outscored them 17-2.

Their opponent took the lead in the fourth, but the 6th graders showing some fightback came back and retook the lead in the final minutes of the game.

But their inability to hit free throws to make it a two possession ballgame did them in at the end.

The normally steady Jonathan went 3-for-6 from the line in the fourth, and Jason H. went 0-for-3.

As the game grew longer, the 6th grade boys got slower, and the man-to-man defense that was so stifling early on had slowly dissipated.

On the game winning shot, the other team's point guard easily got into the paint where nobody was there to defend a shot, and the push shot fell through.

The point guard on the other team who had looked frustrated in the first half, picked apart the defense at will in quarters three and four.

Jonathan, who had 14 points, including three 3 pointers, started the game off with a shot from long distance. Michael also two three balls in the first half for 6 of his 8 points.

Jason Lei went for 13 points and Allen scored the first 2 points in his St. Mary's career.

But all those offensive numbers are rendered meaningless when a team that is going to contend for another championship squanders a 15 point lead.

All the cliches that the team got too complacent, took their foot off the gas, and began to relax are all applicable for this game.

But again, this is game one of a preseason tournament, and not a championship.

6th/7th grade soccer team shutout in championship

The 6th/7th grade soccer team picked a bad time to stop scoring goals, as they were shutout 3-0 in Saturday's championship game at Silver Terrace.

With the sun peeking through some of the rain clouds, the team was unable to find the back of the net and only scored one goal in their two post-season games.

Even the goal they scored was a fortunate break as Thomas' goal in the playoff game literally trickled in slowly past the other team's goalie, who misplayed the ball in the worst way.

On Saturday, it was the other way around as two of the three goals could not be explained, other than the fact they were careless and should not have happened.

Goal one really seemed to dampen the team's spirit, as only one player from the other team was in the box. Ryan K. angled him to the corner, but could not take the ball away as the opposing player just centered the ball towards the goal.

Out of position, the ball went off of Raymond and caromed into the net, and the 6th/7th graders never recovered.

A defensive breakdown led to the second goal, which put them behind 2-0 at the half.

But the backbreaker came in the first minute of the 3rd quarter. Off of a goal kick, a ball sailed towards midfield where a St. Mary's player had a chance to either let it drop, or field it, and play it. Instead, he ducked, looking like he was scared of the ball and the other team teed up and launched a pop-up towards Oscar.

Looking like he was fighting the sun, he misplayed it and the ball bounced into the net, and the game was pretty much over from there.

From top to bottom, the execution just wasn't there.

The other team did dominate the bulk of the attack zone time, but the 6th/7th graders did have their chances.

Their best came when they had a chance to take the leadearly in the first when Julian had a point blank shot in front of the goalie. But he didn't get all of the ball and his shot went right to the goalkeeper and it remained scoreless.

Alan had a nice chance in the first half off of a nice pass from Julian, but he hesitated and was unable to get off a shot.

Before the game, Andre rallied the team and in Hunter Pence like fashion got the team fired up in a huddle. Their energy and effort was there but unfortunately the execution was a little bit off.

And there are times, this being one of them, that you have to tip your hat to the other team, as they outplayed the 6th/7th grade in the biggest game of the year.

A lot of the problems that were apparent Saturday were reminiscent of their growing pains from year's past.

Many whiffs and inability to control the ball, rushing when they didn't have to, and taking their time when they had none. Those mistakes can be made during the season, but definitely not the title game.

Putting this game aside, the team had a very successful season and just missed the opportunity they had in the championship.

The bulk of this team was part of a squad that lost six times last season and tied twice. All of the St. Mary's players had never won a soccer game until the season opener earlier this season.

It was a season of firsts as Thomas, Alan and Jaime all scored their first CYO goals.

Everyone also got to see the progression of many of the players on the team such as both Ryans, Jason, Garrick and The Twins, who all brought their games to another level.

Unfortunately, the success of this season will be short lived as a championship appearance will almost but guarantee them a bump up into the second division for their 8th grade year, which will be a daunting task to say the least.

So the maturation process and progression will be key if they want to make their 8th grade year a memorable one.

7th/8th grade volleyball team wins the championship

The 7th/8th grade girls win the first volleyball championship for St. Mary's Athletics.

***Highlights Below***

It was a year ago when Cynthia and Isabella played in the 8th grade volleyball championship. They were a point away from winning it all when their team fell apart and the two ended up settling for second place.

But in their 8th grade year, they were determined that they would go out on top, and they did.

In their final game in a St. Mary's volleyball uniform, the two longest tenured 8th graders on the team played at their best and led the 7th/8th grade girls volleyball team to the school's first volleyball title in nearly a decade, a straight set 25-23, 25-15 victory over St. Brigid.

It was very fitting Isabella had the ball in her hands on championship point when she served one of her signature liners over the net that the other team could not handle, and the celebration began.

After forcing a side-out to start the second set, Isabella stepped up and served six straight balls over the net, and gave the 7th/8th graders a 7-0 lead. The lefty who had the game of her life was on a roll, mixing up her serves that barely sailed over the net, and then some lofty pop-ups into the back row.

The other team was clearly rattled and could never recover from that early deficit.

St. Brigid made a mini run and cut the lead to 19-13, but that's as close as they got.

Up 23-15, Cynthia placed a perfect ball into the back corner which hit the floor setting up championship point. Then Isabella's serve that hit off a St. Brigid hand sealed the title.

The core of this team played together in 4th/5th and 5th/6th grade and came out with only three wins in two years of play. Now, they are CYO volleyball champions.

In their regular season meetings. the two teams split, with St. Brigid winning the first game in straight sets, and St. Mary's winning the second game in three sets.

Both teams came ready to play and traded rallies and points for much of set one. The 7th/8th graders made some really nice volleys and bumps but St. Brigid, on more than a handful of occasions got to some balls that many thought they would have no chance of getting.

St. Mary's pulled away slowly in the first set and had a 20-15 lead before St. Brigid called a timeout. Then St. Brigid rallied off five straight points, tying the game at 20-20.

The 7th/8th graders scored four of the next five points and held a 24-21 lead, until St. Brigid scored two straight to make it 24-23.

On serve-receive, the other team bumped back an Edwena spike, which Isabella then bumped back over the net. St. Brigid hit it out of bounds and the first set belonged to St. Mary's.

Edwena was at her best and her volleyball instincts really showed in the second set. She was able to see the court well on several of her plays at the net, and was able to either set or spike the ball toward areas on the St. Brigid side that were left unoccupied.

Two of her signature plays of the game came in the second set, one on which she came out of nowhere to tap the ball over the net for a point. And then when she recognized that the other team had nobody by the net, she tipped the ball short for another point.

There were a lot of individual accolades, even though this victory was a total team effort.

Sisters Jamie and Tiffany who were playing volleyball for the first time this year contributed like they had been playing with the team all along.

Jamie's serves were so difficult to return and her quickness helped her get to a lot of balls that would've otherwise hit the floor.

Her older sister Tiffany, who is in 8th grade, was so consistent with her majestic serves which usually landed in the back row. Her serves caused havoc for the other team and pushed the girls out in front a little bit in the first set.

After not playing last year, Ivy returned and was one of the most improved girls on the team. Friday night she angled a lot of the third hits from tough spots on the court over the net and was also incredibly consistent on her serves.

Fiona and Victoria, both who have been playing since 4th grade, were near perfect when called upon. Victoria got to some really tough balls throughout the night and Fiona's spikes and overhand serves got the girls several key points.

And finally the glue that held everything together, Cynthia, who undoubtedly was the leader of this championship team.

It was Cynthia who really took her game to another level mid-season, and really made it a point to be the vocal one on the court. Everybody else on the team then followed her lead and it was so crucial in this magical season.

A lot of the little nuances of the game that Cynthia does so well, like keeping her arms straight on tough spikes, or putting the ball in the best spot for her teammates, are just as important as the big spikes and hard serves. The St. Mary's representative in the CYO Achievement Game played a near flawless game.

In the end, a team of five 7th graders in an 8th grade division went the distance and made St. Mary's Athletics history, on a night that will never be forgotten.

Isabella summed it up after the game in a matter of a few words.

"We ended it really nicely."