December 31, 2004
It was exploitation at its finest in Thursday’s championship basketball game at the McClintock Holiday Shoot-Out.
Mountain View took advantage of its height against Marcos de Niza, winning the tournament title with a 73-53 victory.
Using the mismatch to perfection, No. 2 Mountain View (14-0) built a doubledigit lead just seven minutes into the game and held off (9-4) the rest of the way.
Toros senior forward David Burrows, using his 6-foot-4 frame against defenders sometimes nine inches shorter, torched the Padres by scoring 16 of his game-high 25 points in the first half.
"I thought they were going to play zone,’’ Mountain View coach Gary Ernst said. "We knew we were going to have at least one advantage somewhere.’’
Marcos eventually did go to a zone, but it was way too late.
In just a two-minute span, Burrows scored nine straight points for the Toros, who led 23-8 with 7:30 left in the first half. Burrows’ teammates made it easy for him with several crisp passes.
"You can tell it’s a group of kids that are fun to coach," Ernst said, "and right now we have a good perimeter shooting team.’’
The Toros’ lead got was as big as 19 points late in the first half before Marcos guard Kal Bay banked home a half-court shot as the first half ended. The 3-pointer trimmed the lead to 35-19.
Mountain View, with more offensive weapons than most teams, went to senior guard Ethan Dick to start the second half. He scored eight straight points as the Toros went up 43-21 with 12:20 to play. Dick finished with 14 points and sophomore guard Kendall Wallace added 13. Marcos de Niza has now finished second in consecutive tournaments, losing to Mesa in the pre-Christmas Horizon Tournament final.
Bay, back after missing the semifinal game against host McClintock because of a suspension, led the Padres with 18 points. Michael Broom added 17 and Alex Cooper nine for Marcos.
