This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

BOYS BASKETBALL: Aragon Press Stymies Sequoia

Dons force 23 turnovers in MLK victory over Cherokees; Aragon hopes new-look defense helps when PAL Bay play resumes.

The Score: Aragon 58, Sequoia 44.

The Star: Aragon High's Nick Frankel scored 19 points on seven of 11 shooting to lead the Dons to the victory in the MLK Classic at El Camino High.

The Turning Point: Aragon went on a 20-4 run bridging the first and second quarters to take control of the game.

Find out what's happening in Foster Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Quote: “Wow. We've been doing it in practice all year, so I guess it's finally paying off.” -- Aragon guard Nick Frankel, after hearing that the Don defense forced 23 turnovers against Sequoia.

What's Next? Aragon returns to El Camino to face the Colts on Wednesday at 6 p.m. in Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division play. later in Monday's MLK Classic. Meanwhile, Sequoia plays Capuchino at Burlingame High in a PAL Lake Division game on Friday at 7:45 p.m.

Find out what's happening in Foster Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Bottom Line: Aragon added a 1-2-2 full-court press to its 2-2-1 and it paid immediate dividends, helping to force 23 Cherokee turnovers.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Aragon High School boys basketball coach Arjuna Manning-Laisne had but one regret after watching his Dons down Sequoia, 58-44, at El Camino as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Classic on Monday afternoon.

“I wish we had started that earlier,” Manning-Laisne said.

“That,” was the 1-2-2 full-court press that Manning-Laisne added to the team's repertoire this week. Aragon was already using a 2-2-1 press, but that was intended more to slow other teams down. The new press is intended to wreck some havoc.

It did on Monday. Sequoia committed 23 turnovers, thanks in large part to the press. Aragon fell behind early, 7-3, then went on a 20-4 run to take the lead for good. From there, the Dons continued to build the lead until Sequoia made the score respectable in the final minutes.

“Wow,” said Aragon guard Nick Frankel when told the Dons forced 23 turnovers. “We've been doing it in practice all year, so I guess it's finally paying off.”

How effective was the new press? Sequoia went scoreless for the first three minutes, 35 seconds of the second quarter, and managed to get only three shots off in that time. The Cherokees then went scoreless the first 4:27 of the third quarter, managing only four shots.

“It's a little bit of everything,” Sequoia coach Fine Lauese said. “Not being ready to catch, not being able to dribble. It's something that we work on in practice every day. But usually when teams press us, we struggle and it takes us a while to figure it out. And you saw it today.”

Aragon (5-11) had very balanced scoring – 11 of 13 players scored. Frankel led the way with 19 points and Joe Gemignani came off the bench to score 13. Each made three 3-pointers.

“My shot's been a little off,” Frankel said. “I kept going to the gym with Joe Gemignani at lunch and just kept shooting. And Joe actually had a really good shooting night tonight, too.”

Julian Bertero led Sequoia with 13 points and 11 rebounds. The sophomore post has been a bright spot for the Cherokees (5-11).

“The last four games, he's been double-double,” Lauese said. “When he comes ready to play, it's very tough for teams to contain him. He's solid. He's just starting to figure (how to use his size) out. That he can just do what he wants to do under the basket with the ball.”

James Beekley added 10 points and six rebounds for Sequoia, but there were few highlights beyond the two big men. Starting guards Matt Elliott and Jay Friendman were held scoreless.

For Aragon, Monday's game was a chance to try to build something heading back into Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division games. The Dons return to El Camino on Wednesday to face the Colts. Aragon is 0-2 in PAL Bay play.

“We've been trying to really work on putting 32 minutes together for each game and not have any lapses,” Manning-Laisne said. “I thought this is probably the closest we've come all year to putting that full 32 minutes together, especially offensively.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

Aragon 58, Sequoia 44

S -- 11 8 12 13 -- 44

A -- 11 19 17 11 -- 58

SEQUOIA

Matt Elliott 0-5 0-0 0, Jay Friedman 0-2 0-0 0, Julian Bertero 6-10 1-2 13, Fanor Padilla 3-8 0-0 7, James Beekley 4-8 2-6 10, Ivan Ayarza 2-5 3-4 8, Josh Lauese 1-2 0-0 2, Jovanny Avila 0-0 0-0 0, Jerod Woo 1-5 0-0 2, Jonathan Padilla 0-0 0-0 0, Evander Holyfield 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 18-47 6-12 44.

ARAGON

Nick Frankel 7-11 2-2 19, Folau Etu 2-4 0-0 4, Trevor Lahoz 1-3 0-0 2, Max Liebergesell 2-6 1-2 5, Ryan Yu 1-2 0-0 2, Byron Ng 0-3 1-2 1, Joe Gemignani 5-9 0-0 13, Greg Lyons 2-4 0-0 4, Yash Kaiwar 1-2 0-0 3, Christian Larsen 0-0 0-0 0, Joseph Hala'ufia 1-4 0-0 2, Calvin Chen 0-1 0-0 0, Brandon Agua 1-2 0-0 3. Totals: 23-51 4-6 58.

3-point goals: SEQ – F. Padilla 1-2, Ayarza 1-2, Friedman 0-2, Woo 0-3, Elliott 0-5. Totals: 2-14. ARA – Frankel 3-5, Gemignani 3-6, Agua 1-1, Kaiwar 1-2, Lahoz 0-1, Ng 0-1, Chen 0-1, Liebergesell 0-3. Totals: 8-20.

Fouled out: None. Technicals: None.

Highlights: SEQ – Bertero 11 rebounds; Elliott 5 assists. ARA – Lyons 6 rebounds; Liebergesell 4 assists.

Records: Aragon 5-11. Sequoia 5-11.

Download the movie

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?