Sports
Arcadia Sports Notebook: Apaches Boys Hoops Make Playoff Push
Apaches are tied with Burbank for third place in the Pacific League.
With its penchant for pulling out close games, Arcadia’s boys basketball team is right in the thick of the playoff hunt. But its coach and players know the Apaches must continue to win those types of games to reach that goal.
“Every game is a playoff game,” Arcadia coach Jay Ryan said, regarding the remaining Pacific League games. “The last four or five games we play, those are teams we’re gonna be battling for (the postseason).”
Arcadia and Burbank are tied at 4-3 for third place in league, while Pasadena (7-0) and Crescenta Valley (6-1) are in first and second. Glendale and Muir (both at 3-4) hover one game behind the Apaches and Bulldogs.
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“If we’re trying to make the playoffs, then we’ve got to play like a playoff team,” said Kiran Koneru, after the Apaches 60-58 win over Muir on Jan. 18.
That win came four days after Arcadia laid an egg in Burbank.
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“We came in the day after we lost to Burbank, and we knew we had to get it together,” said Koneru, whose 15.8 points per game leads Arcadia.
Three days prior to that game Robert Haines hit two free throws with no time left on the clock in regulation to send a game against Hoover into overtime. The Apaches eventually won by seven. Haines’ 26 points led Arcadia that day.
In the win over Muir, Taylor Lagace, playing his first game of the season because of a collarbone injury, led Arcadia with 21 points. He made several key plays down the stretch.
“My other teammates stepped up, Robby (Haines), Taylor (Lagace) — his first game back — C.J. (Perez) and Chris (Severo),” Koneru said after the win over Muir. "That’s what we needed to do as a team; (to) get all of us going.”
On Friday, Arcadia lost to Crescenta Valley, 61-56. A win would have evened the Apaches and Falcons at 5-2 in league.
“If you lose, you can’t worry about it, because we’re all beating each other up,” Ryan had said after the win over Muir. “At the end of the day, you’ve just got to come out with the best record that you can, and we hope that we can get into the playoffs again.”
Arcadia has a nice warmup against Hoover (0-7 in league) on Monday, before facing league-leader Pasadena on Wednesday. The Apaches finish their week with a game against Glendale on Friday. The Apaches are home against Hoover and Glendale.