Boys basketball: Milpitas rallies to beat San Ramon Valley, stay undefeated

MILPITAS — Undefeated in its first seven games, Milpitas hadn’t faced a team with San Ramon Valley’s history and pedigree. So the Trojans were looking forward to the cross-sectional matchup.

“This is a game we all had circled on the calendar,” said 6-foot-5 junior Pranavram Krishnan.

Milpitas trailed by nine at the end of the first quarter, but turned it around and led by as many as 10 early in the fourth quarter before holding on for a 73-67 victory.

“I thought Berkeley was really good, but this team is a lot better, very, very skilled,” said Milpitas coach Champ Wrencher, whose team defeated Berkeley 53-43 in its third game of the season. “They’re the best competition we’ve faced, especially with the size. You saw what happened in the first quarter, they were swatting our shots all over the block. They had us intimidated with their length and athleticism. It was good to see how we responded.”

Milpitas had a breakthrough season a year ago, going 24-5 and advancing to the second round of the NorCal playoffs. With four starters graduating, the team was expected to take a step back. But that’s not happening as the Trojans improved to 8-0 with the win.

Krishnan scored 21 and Dylan Nguyen, the one returning starter, scored 20.

“That’s the way it’s been every game, Pranav and Dylan within a point of each other,” Wrencher said. “They’ve improved so much since last year.”

San Ramon Valley is off to an uncharacteristic 3-6 start, but the record is somewhat deceiving. The Wolves had back-to-back one-point losses to Weston Ranch and Lodi, but also have a 17-point win over a Marin Catholic team that has defeated both De La Salle and Serra.

“The record doesn’t indicate who we are,” SRV coach Brian Botteen said. “But it’s hard in the locker room to look these guys in the face. I feel for them, but at the same time we’re becoming a better varsity team. Playing good teams like this will accelerate our development.”

Lefty guard Tyler Smith scored a game-high 26 points for SRV. He had nine in the first quarter as his team built a 15-6 lead. But Milpitas, which suffered through a 3-for-16 shooting first quarter, lit it up the rest of the way, scoring 67 points over the final three quarters, shooting just a shade under 60% on a combined 25-of-42.

Ziad Elkordy got the Milpitas comeback started with a 10-point flurry at the beginning of the second quarter on two 3s and a pair of putbacks. He finished with 15 points.

“He’s not our best 3-point shooter,” Wrencher said. “But he’s not afraid to take a shot. If he goes 1 of 4, that’s money. When he goes 3 of 4 like tonight, that’s supreme icing on the cake.”

Nguyen’s 3-pointer at the end of the second quarter gave Milpitas its first lead, 30-29 at halftime.

SRV went cold in the third quarter as Milpitas extended its lead. Smith fueled a rally with 13 fourth-quarter points, reducing a 10-point deficit to one at 59-58 and 61-60 before Milpitas pulled away, making its foul shots down the stretch.

“Milpitas is a very good, sound team,” Botteen said. “They have excellent shooters, good athletes, good discipline. They came out flat, they raised their game, came out smoking hot in the second half and that was our deficit the rest of the night.”

Nate Dessoye scored 13 and Pierce Iattoni, coming back from an injury, had 10 for SRV.