Boys basketball: Redwood shoots past TL to stay atop league
Redwood High lost some star power, and a key piece of the coaching staff, from last year’s MCAL championship team, but the Giants have been carving a path back to the top.
The Giants were running hot as they wrapped up a successful roll through the first leg of the league schedule with Friday’s 70-51 road victory over a shorthanded Terra Linda squad. The next stretch, however, includes the Murderers’ Row of the MCAL.
“It’s a lot different being 3-0 than 2-1 heading into the next week,” said Redwood head coach Jay DeMaestri, whose Giants (7-9, 3-0 MCAL), face powerhouses Branson, Marin Catholic, San Marin and Archie Williams in a two-week span to close out the month of January.
Terra Linda head coach James Baker still hopes the Trojans (9-7, 0-3) will join the six-team MCAL playoff field, but that became a lot more challenging after Friday’s loss. The Trojans are still figuring out how to make up for the season-ending foot injury to starting center Evan Brewster as they prepare for a busy week. Terra Linda sandwiches games against Novato and Archie Williams between non-league games against Chico and St. Vincent.
“It’s tough without Evan,” Baker said. “We’ve relied on Evan so much, we forget sometimes we have other scorers. We’ll have to design our offense around them and see what we can do.”
Redwood, Archie Williams (2-0), Marin Catholic (1-0) represent the current top tier of the MCAL, with Branson and Tam both 2-1, followed by San Marin (1-2), San Rafael (0-2) and Novato (0-2).
Friday’s contest turned into a shooting match as the Giants’ Max Monterastelli dueled with the Trojans’ Shauwn Sharpe as they each finished with five 3-pointers. Monterastelli led the Giants with 23 points.
Sharpe scored 15 points to lead the Trojans. Wes Harrison hit a trio of 3-pointers as he and Kaden Martin each added 11 points for the Trojans.
“They always play hard, and they can give teams fits,” DeMaestri said of the Trojans. “We just tried to keep the focus on us, to keep the game all about us.”
Jake Post added nine points for the Giants, who also got six points each from senior Charlie Poser and Wes Fitzpatrick.
“These guys played hard on the team we had last year,” DeMaestri said. “They’re tough and they want people to know that they’re not just secondary players. Charlie Poser in the middle is a workhorse. Jake Post plays hard every night.”
Sharpe and Harrison hit back-to-back treys to rally the Trojans to a 18-16 lead in the first quarter, but then Richard Byrne joined the show with a bomb to give Redwood the lead for good. The Giants closed out the first quarter with a 25-19 lead.
Redwood was driving to the paint, while Terra Linda went to the free throw line in a fairly balanced second quarter. Ramon Garcia sank a layup, then Harrington White stormed to the basket for a dunk to close out the half with a 10-point Redwood edge.
Redwood’s up tempo play took its toll on Terra Linda during a sluggish third quarter. Martin and Sharpe scored to cut the gap to five points before the Giants closed out the quarter with a 12-point run that effectively sealed the win.
“We tried to run on them,” DeMaestri said. “Terra Linda’s not as deep as we are, so we knew if kept running and pressing, they’d get tired.”
The pace picked up again in the final 8 minutes, but the Giants didn’t allow the Trojans to get within striking range.
The Giants are a hard-tested team during their follow-up campaign to a dynamic title season. Redwood graduated MCAL player of the Year TT Carr, now a freshman at Cal, as well as Brennan Woodley, Simon Leonard and Kody Vazquez. Former assistant coach Kevin Vasquez left to take over the boys team at Marin Catholic.
“We went through a difficult preseason,” DeMaestri said. “Now that’s paying off and we’re looking like a stronger team. We have a tough week ahead, and there are no gimmes, but these are games we can win.”