The Analy boys have a formula for success. Shoot frequently. And don?t worry about missing, just keep firing away without hesitation. It has worked well enough to run off 10 consecutive wins in the Sonoma County League.
Friday night the Tigers embraced the strategy to its fullness and defeated visiting Petaluma 64-42, securing at least a share of the Sonoma County League crown. The Tigers improved to 18-6, 10-0 in league.
Even with the loss, Petaluma (10-14, 7-2) can get a piece of the title by winning out and hoping the Tigers drop their remaining two games.
Analy wasted little time jetting out to a quick lead. Jackson Stogner completed a 3-point play 30 seconds into the game. The Tigers led 12-4 midway through the first quarter when Stogner duplicated the feat.
Kevin Aronis had a pair of 3-pointers in the first quarter and Stogner finished the period with 10 points. The Tigers led 21-4 beginning the second period, kept the defensive pressure at a feverish pitch and pulled away to a commanding 29-9 advantage before the Trojans started a mini-rally that closed the gap to 34-16 at the half.
Aronis had four treys in the half. The Tigers? defense effectively shut down Vince Dequattro, who averages 12.8 a game. The senior forward had only two shot attempts, one a desperation 3 to end the half. Ricky Simms had six in the half for Petaluma.
?They were too deep and too quick,? said Petaluma coach Sean Payne. ?We got off to such a bad start ... there are no 16-point shots.?
Petaluma did make a nice run to start the second half and crawl to within 34-25 when Braedon Ross completed a 3-point play. But, the Tigers quickly righted the ship with an 11-0 run highlighted by Max Fujii?s only 3-point basket in the game.
?We resorted back to our bad habits, and let them get a run,? Payne said.
Dequattro had a team-high 10 points for the Trojans, all in the second half. Casey Healy contributed nine and Ricky Simms eight for the Trojans, who had their five-game SCL win streak snapped.
Gavin Winter, the Tigers leading rebounder, who is also adept at driving from the outside, had 14 points. He made several key baskets in the second half when the Trojans were waging a comeback.
The Tigers just might be the best long-range shooting team in the Empire. They have a penchant for casting up shots beyond the arc. It?s common for them to attempt 20 or more from 3-point land. Their average is nearly 16 a game.
?We don?t go out saying we are going to shoot a lot of threes, but we have guys who can shoot, so we tell them if they are open to shoot,? Page said.
With Fujii and Aronis, the Tigers have two of the top 3-point shooting artists in the Redwood Empire. Fujii has made 49 of 108 attempts, while Aronis has connected on 51 of 127. The Tigers are shooting 37 percent from beyond the arc as a team on 359 attempts. Against Petaluma they connected on 7 of 14.
That the Tigers are so prolific from long range is no accident. Page and assistant coach Rich Ulrich are proponents of the art and teach the kids not to think twice about hoisting up a 3 if they find themselves open.
?We look to penetrate, kick out and look for the three,? said Ulrich, who has been working with Page since the early 1990s. ?I was with Bret last year with the junior varsity, and we played together at Analy.
?One of our goals is to get more shots than the other team. We want to saturate the basket with shots. There have been games when we have been outscored, but not out-shot.?
Fujii, who needs little space to get his shot, made 8 of 9 3-pointers against Windsor. The sophomore guard is the Tigers? leading scorer at 14.1 to go along with nearly four assists a game. Aronis averages 11.8.
Junior guard Jordan Guerinoni, whose brother played at Analy and is now an assistant coach at LSU, has 20 3-pointers. That would be the team leader on some teams.
Many of Fujii?s baskets are opportunistic, coming off the fast break. But he says the Tigers try to keep the opponent honest by going inside and swinging the ball back to a shooter.
?That sets up the three. It opens up the middle for the bigger guys and slows down weakside defensive help,? Fujii said.?
Aronis said there is a friendly competition between him and Fujii as to who will have the most 3s. Last season on the JV, Aronis had 58 and Fujii 55. By the way, that team went undefeated.
?We joke around about who has the most,? Aronis said. ?It makes us want it more.?
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