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St. Mary’s-Tech a familiar battle

By Jared Green, Daily Planet Staff
Saturday March 09, 2002

When the St. Mary’s High boys’ basketball team faces off against top-ranked Oakland Tech in a Northern California Division I semifinal game tonight, there aren’t likely to be many surprises on either side. 

Tech star Leon Powe, one of the top juniors in the country, played on the same AAU team, the Oakland Soldiers, as St. Mary’s backcourt duo DaShawn Freeman and John Sharper. The Soldiers were coached by St. Mary’s assistant Mark Olivier. Freeman and Tech point guard Armando Surratt have played against each other for years, and the teams met early this season at the Modesto Christian tournament, with Tech coming out on top, 93-77. 

“Oakland Tech is the biggest challenge we’ve faced yet as a program,” St. Mary’s head coach Jose Caraballo said Friday. “They’re more talented and have more weapons than any team we’ve faced in the past two seasons.” 

That’s saying a mouthful, as the Panthers beat powerful Crossroads High, which featured current University of Arizona player Isaiah Fox, for the Division IV state title last season. 

But Powe is enough to scare teams all by himself. The 6-foot-8 forward is a sometimes-unstoppable force, averaging more than 25 points per game in the postseason. 

“I don’t think anyone matches up with Leon,” Olivier said. “If you hold him under his average, you’ve done a great job. The key is to contain the other players.” 

Oakland Tech has more than just Powe, however. Surratt, one of the quickest guards in the state, is headed to Fresno State next season, and wingman Quentin Thomas is also highly regarded. 

Lurking behind the name players is 6-foot-4 Kenneth Smith. Known as “Deuce,” Smith has shaken off a serious leg injury suffered this summer to have a great season, doing the dirty work while Powe and Surratt garner the accolades. 

“Smith is the heart and soul of that team,” Olivier said. “He’s the one that establishes their toughness. He does all the little things, and he is one of the best on-the-ball defenders around.” 

With that type of talent all over the court, not to mention their 16-point win over the Panthers in Modesto, Tech is a considerable favorite in the game. But the Panthers aren’t used to losing big games. They have lost just one postseason game in the past two seasons, a 76-70 loss to De La Salle in last Saturday’s North Coast Section final. 

Many observers criticized Caraballo’s decision to move up to Division I for this year, saying the Panthers were too small for the bigger competition, but the Panthers have proven the naysayers wrong. They weathered Freeman’s absence at the start of the season due to a stress fracture and had won 21 straight games before the loss to De La Salle. In fact, St. Mary’s only losses this season have come to the three other Division I semifinalists (they lost to Oakland High in a tournament to start the season). 

“If we want to be the best, we have to beat the best,” Caraballo said. “No one thought we’d get this far. But my kids are battle-tested, and they know what it takes to win.” 

What it will take to win tonight will be everyone’s best game. Sharper has to hit from the outside early and often, post players Chase Moore and Simon Knight must hold their own on the inside with Powe, and the St. Mary’s press must prove more effective than against De La Salle, which committed just nine turnovers. 

“We’re not going to be afraid to do what we do,” Caraballo said. “We have to go to the basket, go straight at Leon and maybe get him in foul trouble. And we have to pound the boards.”