Santa Teresa Nears Share of League Title
The Saints are in the midst of their best season in a decade.
With Monday night’s 75-58 win over the rival Oak Grove Eagles, the Santa Teresa Saints neared their first BVAL Mount Hamilton title since 2010.
A win over Christopher on Tuesday night will guarantee Santa Teresa (18-5, 10-1 BVAL Mount Hamilton) no worse than a share of the crown. If the Saints win and Branham (21-2, 10-1) loses to rival Leigh (15-7, 7-4), they’ll be outright champs.
“Our team chemistry has definitely gone up this year,” said Adam Nakai, who had a game-high 23 points in Monday’s win. “We created a bond that we didn’t have last year.”
That chemistry and an 11-0 run to open the second quarter gave the Saints the edge they needed to hold off a feisty Eagles side that never let them pull away until the closing minutes. Oak Grove (9-14, 3-9) trailed just 54-47 after Jaden Sweeney’s and-1 with 6:05 left, and it wasn’t until a late 10-3 run that Santa Teresa could finally put the game to bed.
“It wasn’t our greatest game, it wasn’t our prettiest game, but that’s what championship teams do,” said first-year head coach Patrick Judge. “They win the tough ones.”
Santa Teresa won playing the up-tempo style that Judge’s teams were known for at Leigh and Saratoga, led by Nakai and Kenny Zuniga, who scored all 12 of his points in the first half. The Saints also got 16 points from junior wing Alex Peoples and 10 from Casey Tran.
“We switched presses on ‘em and then we started hitting shots,” Judge said.
Zuniga and Peoples each hit threes during the 11-0 run, and after Nakai scored from a Zuniga steal, the lead was 28-13. Santa Teresa closed the first half on an 8-3 run to go up 36-22 and led 41-26 early in the third, but Sweeney, who finished with 22 points and seven rebounds, kept the Eagles in it.
“He’s a stud,” Judge said of Sweeney.
Sweeney, a 6-foot-4 guard with a smooth mid-range shot, went 8-of-10 at the line. He had eight points and six boards in the first quarter alone as the hosts trailed by just four after a period. The Eagles also got 12 points from Matteo Sanchez, 11 from Matt Truong and eight from Kevin Adiey.
The hosts were down just seven after Sweeney’s three-point play early in the fourth, but Nakai answered with a three and went on to score another seven points in the next three minutes, capped off by a 3-pointer off Evan Guillermo’s inbound pass to make it 63-51. He scored his final points of the night on a pair of free throws with 1:35 left to put the Saints up 15.
“It’s a game of runs, and we’re built for a run,” Judge said. “Now we’re one game from a championship.”