SUNNYVALE — When this wild ride of a playoff semifinal ended, the public-address announcer asked the crowd to applaud both teams.
Good call.
In a wild game of ebbs and flows, second-seeded Los Gatos outlasted third-seeded Santa Teresa 82-80 in overtime on Thursday night at Fremont High in Sunnyvale to advance to the Central Coast Section Division I final on Saturday against top-seeded Menlo-Atherton, a winner over Palo Alto in the other semifinal.
The title game will be played at Santa Clara High.
Scotty Brennan scored 31 points for Los Gatos, none bigger than the basket he made with his team trailing by two in the final 30 seconds of overtime.
The ball found its way to Brennan near the top of the key. He dribbled his defender into the low block, made a spin move and banked in a shot with his left hand as the whistle blew with 19.3 seconds on the clock.
Fouled, the son of former San Jose State football coach Brent Brennan, who was in attendance, made the free throw to give Los Gatos an 81-80 lead.
“I was thinking I hope this goes in,” Brennan said. “I threw it up there and it went in. Thank God. They gave me the foul call. Made the free throw. Amazing support from our fans, making it loud for both teams. It was great.”
Santa Teresa had a shot to reclaim the lead at the other end when Evan Guillermo got separation from his defender at the top of the perimeter. But his three-point attempt hit off the back of the rim, and Nolan Koch grabbed the rebound for Los Gatos.
Koch, who finished with 18 points, was fouled with 0.8 seconds left. He made the first free throw, missed the second, to complete the scoring.
Los Gatos (20-6) secured its spot in the Division I final for the second consecutive season — the Wildcats lost to Bellarmine in the title game last year — and clinched a NorCal berth in the process.
Los Gatos’ Scotty Brennan (10) takes a shot against Santa Teresa’s Kenny Zuniga (22) in the fourth quarter of their Central Coast Section Division I boys basketball semifinal game at Fremont High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Santa Teresa, in its first season under veteran South Bay coach Patrick Judge, is hoping to receive one of the three NorCal bids the CCS has for semifinal teams that don’t advance to a final.
Given how the Saints (19-7) played Thursday, they certainly have a valid argument.
It was clear from the outset that the game would have an up-tempo pace — Santa Teresa’s style — and would likely go down the wire.
Santa Teresa, coming off a 92-point eruption in the quarterfinals against Alvarez, led 22-16 after one quarter. The score was tied 35-35 at halftime, and Los Gatos led 51-49 going into the fourth period.
Los Gatos coach Nick Ward described the game as wild.
“Not perfect,” Ward said. “I would say ugly at times. But a wild, wild high school game.”
Los Gatos opened a 70-64 lead when Brennan, a quarterback in football, threw a deep inbound pass to Ronan Chinmulgund for an uncontested layup. Chinmulgund scored 15 points.
Adam Nakai, who had 21 points, answered with a three to cut the deficit to 70-67 with just over a minute to play and the next deep Los Gatos inbounds pass was intercepted by Santa Teresa. Kenny Zuniga scored at the other end to make it 70-69, the last of his team-high 27 points.
Santa Teresa’s Kenny Zuniga (22) takes a shot against Los Gatos High School in the second quarter of their Central Coast Section Division I boys basketball semifinal game at Fremont High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
But Zuniga’s game ended on the next Los Gatos possession as he was called for a fifth foul. Koch made 1 of 2 free throws with 45.7 seconds to go to extend the margin to 71-69.
With Los Gatos up 72-70, Casey Tran’s drive to the hoop evened the score with 15 seconds left. Los Gatos didn’t score on its final possession, sending the game to OT.
The overtime was no different than regulation time as the teams traded shot after shot.
“I got really nervous for a second when they started knocking down shots,” Brennan said, noting Nakai and Zuniga specifically. “My heart was racing. ‘Oh, crap, this game is serious now.’ Twenty-one hit that shot to (help) send it into OT, I was like, ‘Oh, man, we’ve got to really turn it up in this four minutes.’ Luckily, we were able to hold on to it.”
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Nakai’s 3-pointer with a minute left in OT gave Santa Teresa an 80-77 lead. Judge immediately signaled for a timeout and appeared to call the right defense on Los Gatos’ next trip up the court.
But a trap near midcourt was too excessive in the eyes of one of the officials. Anthony Martin made the second of two free-throw tries to cut the deficit to 80-78, setting the stage for Brennan’s heroics.
“Hats off to Los Gatos,” Judge said. “They battled. They’ve had a great season, and we’ve had a great season. Those were two very high-level high school basketball teams, public-school teams playing for a shot to play for a CCS championship. I couldn’t be prouder of my guys. I’ve said this to anybody who’s asked, anytime. This is an incredible blessing to be at Santa Teresa, coaching these men in this locker room.”
Santa Teresa’s Adam Nakai (21) fights for the ball against Los Gatos High School in the second quarter of their Central Coast Section Division I boys basketball semifinal game at Fremont High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Santa Teresa’s Adam Nakai (21) takes a shot against Los Gatos High School in the first quarter of their Central Coast Section Division I boys basketball semifinal game at Fremont High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Los Gatos’ Nolan G. koch (11) takes a shot against Santa Teresa’s Kenny Zuniga (22) in the third quarter of their Central Coast Section Division I boys basketball semifinal game at Fremont High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Los Gatos’ Scotty Brennan (10) scores a basket and is fouled by Santa Teresa’s Ayden Bobbitt (5) late in overtime of their Central Coast Section Division I boys basketball semifinal game at Fremont High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Los Gatos’ Anthony Martin (21) is fouled by Santa Teresa’s Ayden Bobbitt (5) in the third quarter of their Central Coast Section Division I boys basketball semifinal game at Fremont High School in Santa Clara, Calif., on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
