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Published on 03/08/1999 All articles from this issue

Alta Vista passes its way to a league title

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By Pete Borello

Town Crier Staff Writer

The Alta Vista High boys basketball team passed around the championship trophy like it did the basketball last Thursday, with every member getting a chance to hoist it.

But sharing is nothing new to the Aztecs, who beat Robertson 51-37 to claim the South Bay Big Four's first-ever league title.

"They feel better when they pass," said John Figueroa, who coaches at the Mountain View continuation school with Bob Adams. "They're team-oriented and very unselfish."

And that's what set top-seed Alta Vista (10-0) apart from No. 2 Robertson of Fremont in Thursday's game, played at Cubberley Community Center in Palo Alto.

Robertson (7-3) often made just one pass before launching a shot and a lot of these attempts were way off the mark. The Aztecs, meanwhile, typically made several passes in hopes of getting a better shot.

"Sometimes they passed too much," said Adams, a Los Altos resident. "They passed up some open shots."

For the most part, though, the passes worked.

Senior point guard Dajuan Brown did a fine job of driving to the hoop and then dishing the ball inside to players like David Due, Domonique Sims and Dan Snyder.

One of Brown's best assists came with 14:10 left in the second half, as he drove the left baseline and then fired a pass into the key to a cutting Sims. The basket gave Alta Vista a 35-26 lead.

Brown was rewarded for his generosity on the Aztecs' next possession. He dashed down the middle of the lane, snatched a pass from Snyder and hit a soft runner from about eight feet out. This pushed Alta Vista's lead to 12 with 13:05 remaining.

The Aztecs extended their advantage to 51-30 with just over four minutes to go. Guard Dan Caballero scored four of his team-high 13 points during this 13-4 run.

Due wound up with 12 points and Sims scored eight.

Alta Vista opened the league playoffs earlier in the day with a 46-33 win over No. 4 Cal Hills of Milpitas.