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VanderVeen dominates, Eagles win

By Chris Aguirre/Sports Writer

Arroyo Grande’s Brent VanderVeen gets pressed by San Luis Obispo’s David Thoresen. VanderVeen scored 31 points in the 75-72 PAC 7 League win for Arroyo Grande High School on the Eagles’ home court. //Joshua E. Duffy/Contributor
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The Arroyo Grande Eagles boys basketball team held off a late rally by the San Luis Obispo Tigers to earn a 75-72 PAC 7 League victory Wednesday night in Arroyo Grande.

Brent VanderVeen led the way for the Eagles with a game-high 31 points. The Tigers had no answer for the senior, especially inside in the paint and on the free throw line, where he went 11-for-13. He also pulled down eight rebounds.

“He’s a tremendous athlete and an unselfish kid,” Arroyo Grande coach Ryan Glanville said. “He does so many great things for us.”

Both teams looked good early. A tight battle ended with a 16-14 lead for Arroyo Grande after the first quarter of play.

In the second, the Eagles started to assert their dominance, outscoring the Tigers 12-2 in the first three minutes and taking a 28-18 lead with five minutes left in the half.

Arroyo Grande extended its lead to 42-30 at the half with the help of VanderVeen, who scored 14 points in the second quarter.

After two free throws by the Eagles to start the second half, the Tigers got a basket by Matt Moore, who drove down the lane for a layup, and a 3-pointer at the top of the key by Matthew Delmartini to cut the lead to 44-35 with 6:25 to go in the quarter.

A rebound and a basket by VanderVeen pushed the lead back to double digits at 46-35.

SLO got another 3-pointer by Moore, this time from the wing, to bring the Tigers within 8.

On the ensuing AG possession, Gunnar Gomez answered with a 3-pointer to make it 49-38. That was answered by consecutive 3-pointers by San Luis Obispo’s David Thoresen and Delmartini to pull the Tigers within 5 at 49-44 with 4:33 left in the third.

AG finished the quarter on a 13-6 run to take a 62-48 lead.

In the fourth, the Tigers woke up, scoring the first 5 points to pull within 9. The teams traded baskets, with the Eagles leading by 10 — at 69-59 — with 3:15 left in the game.

That’s when San Luis Obispo went on a 7-0 run with a 3-pointer by Thoresen, who hit one from the wing with a defender in his face, and two jumpers by Scott Inman to pull within 3 with two minutes left.

After a time-out by AG, VanderVeen hit his only basket of the fourth quarter — a running hook from just below the free-throw line — to put AG up 71-66. Chandler Torres responded with a driving layup on the ensuing possession to make it 71-68.

The Eagles hit four free throws late to seal the win.

“I thought offensively, we shot the ball well, and defensively, we were good most of the game,” Glanville said. “But we got some tired legs, and I was afraid we were going to run out of gas.”

Gomez finished with 16 points and five rebounds and connected on three 3-pointers, while Brennan Rivera added 10 points and five rebounds to help the Eagles’ scoring attack.

Inman and Moore had 17 points apiece to lead the way for the Tigers.

The win moves Arroyo Grande to 10-8 overall and 3-1 in PAC 7 League play. The Eagles travel to Paso Robles tonight.

Boys soccer

San Luis Obispo 3,

Arroyo Grande 0

The Tigers improved to 10-1-2 overall and 3-0 in the PAC 7 League with a big win over AG.

It was coach Johnny Costa’s first win over the Eagles in his four years at the helm for the Tigers.

“I can’t really say we were dominant,” Costa said. “AG has some really good individual players that were hard to handle. We gave the ball away a lot.

“The bottom line is that we got the win.”

Alex Montero made seven saves for the Eagles, who play at Paso Robles today.

“They’re very strong,” Eagles coach Brad Bowdey said of tonight’s game. “This will be the third game of a three-game week.”

Girls soccer

San Luis Obispo 4,

Arroyo Grande 3, OT

Arroyo Grande was ahead 3-1 with 10 minutes left in the game when San Luis Obispo stormed back with two late goals to force overtime in their PAC 7 girls soccer match at Arroyo Grande. SLO then handed AG its first league loss.

Mallory Flatebo scored the first of her two goals for AG in the ninth minute off a Carly Chandless pass.

San Luis tied the score in the 31st minute, and there it stood, 1-1, at the half.

Flatebo then fired a pass to Pita Leon in the 58th minute, and Leon kicked it in for a 2-1 AG lead.

Flatebo completed the Eagles’ scoring on a penalty kick in the 64th minute.

SLO scored in the 69th and 74th minutes of the 80-minute regulation time to send the match to two 10-minute overtime periods.

The Tigers completed their comeback with the game-winning goal in the 87th minute in the first overtime.

AG (11-6 overall, 3-1 PAC 7) will host Paso Robles this afternoon in its next PAC 7 match.