Northwood boys basketball alumni return for two competitive games on campus

Some of the Northwood alumni players during Saturday’s event. (Photo courtesy Brian Arnold).

Northwood High School’s boys basketball program held a fundraiser Saturday, Sept. 12 hosting its first annual alumni basketball doubleheader with two very close and entertaining games.

The first game consisted of two different halves with three different teams.

The current JV and freshman boys squared off in the first half of this first game. The freshman squad trailed 23-10 after the end of the first 10-minute quarter, but made a surprising comeback to beat the JV squad, 23-6 in the second quarter to effectively win the contest, 33-29.

The second half of the first game featured the freshman boys team facing off against the coaches / teachers.

The coaches / teachers won the first quarter, 21-9, in large part due to the shooting and pinpoint passing from Isaac Davis and hustle of JV coach Michael Matossian. The faculty almost ran out of gas in the final quarter as the freshman boys outscored them, 26-18. The faculty did prevail 39-35 in another entertaining matchup.

The marquee matchup was a full game with the current varsity boys team hosting 10 alumni primarily from the past three seasons.

The alumni team included former all-conference players Ryan Abaye, Zaid Younis, Justin Liu, Sam Alegre and Adrian Elemento.

After a slow start, the Alumni jumped out to a 20-9 lead after the first quarter and still led 40-30 at halftime in large part on the outside shooting of Elemento who electrified the crowd with his six three-pointers, including two off the glass.

The varsity made a good run in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 53-50. The fourth quarter remained close and the experienced alumni held on to win 72-68.

After the game, the players, families and fans gathered for photos. Third year Coach Anthony De La Cruz hopes to make this event an annual tradition.

—Courtesy Daryl Bogard, For OC Sports Zone