SAN JOSE — It was just the start of league play, but with 11-0 Westmont paying a visit to 11-1 Willow Glen, the winner was going to stake a claim as early favorite and to being the team to beat in the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division.
Willow Glen was giving away a little bit in the way of size, but made up for it by applying pressure, accelerating the pace and hitting 3-pointers on the way to a 55-47 victory that knocked Westmont from the ranks of the unbeaten.
“We play an up-tempo style, that’s our style, we’re not very big,” first-year coach Patrick Judge said. “We want to play fast, up and down, score a lot of points, apply ball pressure, and I thought we did an excellent job tonight.”
The win was Willow Glen’s 11th in a row, dating back to a loss to Soquel on Dec. 4 in its second game of the season. Judge, who had made previous South Bay coaching stops at Santa Teresa, Saratoga and Leigh, is digging it.
“I’m having such a fun time coaching these guys,” Judge said. “They play together, unselfish, they share the ball really well. I’m proud of the way the whole team, all 13 guys, work together. We call it one-twenty, 120% all in, every day at practice.”
The Rams forced Westmont into 17 turnovers and had a 15-point advantage on 3-pointers made with nine to four by the Warriors.
Balanced scoring was another factor in the win. Willow Glen (12-1, 2-0) had four players score in double figures. Wyatt Ahlbrand scored 11. Point guard Brayden Gumabo, Miles Ingram and Chase Azus had 10 points apiece.
“If one guy has an off-night, we have multiple guys ready to step up,” Ahlbrand said. “Every close game like this makes us better and is going to prepare us for the next bigger fish.”
Jacob Froman scored a game-high 19 for Westmont (11-1, 0-1) and Gabe Matthiesen had 13.
Westmont’s 23-18 lead was erased on a 7-0 run by Willow Glen to close the first half and the Rams never trailed the rest of the way.
“We knew they were good,” Westmont coach John Franza said. “They were well prepared for us. I don’t know if we were complacent with what our start was. They learned pretty quickly that it was going to take a little more effort than what we gave tonight.”
The Mercury News
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