The Aptos High School boys basketball team took an early lead and held it throughout as they beat the visiting San Lorenzo Valley Cougars, 62-47, on Tuesday, Feb. 15.
After nearly three minutes with the score at 0-0, the Mariners took control from the perimeter and started what would end up being a virtual air show. By the end of the first quarter, Aptos had an 11-3 lead and never looked back.
Aptos senior guard Nick Grieves found a rhythm and drained six 3-pointers in the contest, finishing the night with 28 points.
In every other aspect of the game, SLV was Aptos’ equal, but out on the edges, the Mariners downed the tenacious Cougar defense. SLV sank only one 3-pointer on the night, while Aptos hit 11 3s as a team.
Blake Bechtle led the Cougars with 18 points and four rebounds, and Luke Roberts added 15 points and eight rebounds.
“We came into this game with a chance,” SLV coach Marcus Northcutt said. “Aptos just got hot and stayed hot.”
The Cougar defense was ferocious but failed to capitalize offensively all year, hampered in part by the SLV football team’s run into the Central Coast Section Division IV playoffs, which held eight basketball players off the court early on.
“We started the season in the hole, due to the football season keeping a lot of the players in check,” Northcutt said. “With me being a first-year head coach, we just didn’t get the team together ’til it was too late.”
SLV finished the season 8-17 overall and 3-9 in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League.
