Sputtering Hart Finds Victory Within Its Gasp

The Hart High’s boys’ basketball team, the smoothest running machine in the region, nearly broke down Friday.

It coughed, it shimmied, it groaned. It nearly died with a clunk after shots by its perimeter players repeatedly went clank.

But the Indians (20-1) stayed unbeaten in eight Foothill League games with a come-from-behind victory, 35-34, against Saugus at The Master’s College.

Hart has been the Valley’s No. 1-ranked team much of the season, because its precision half-court offense has hummed. But Friday the Indians appeared rusty, and rightly so. They were playing only their second game in 20 days since the Jan. 17 earthquake.

Hart, which shot only 27% from the field, relied on defense and the inside scoring of 6-foot-8 center Cody Patterson.

Patterson scored 18 points, most coming against double-teams under the basket or on layups after wrestling for offensive rebounds.

Saugus (10-10, 3-5 in league play) shot 67% from the field in the first half and 52% for the game, but Hart held the Centurions to six points in the second half--two in the decisive fourth quarter, when they lost a nine-point lead.

Patterson, whose turnaround jumper turned out to be the winning basket, was happy to have a chance to play a game and forget about the earthquake, if only for 32 minutes. His family is moving into a rental this weekend because its home suffered major damage in the quake.

“A lot’s been going on,” he said, “and there’s only so many days in a row you can practice and keep your intensity up.

“But for me, when I saw (Saugus) start to turn the ball over, I knew they were as mentally unstable as we were.”

Saugus, which lost to Hart, 34-28, earlier in the season, might have beaten the Indians had it not committed 12 turnovers.

“I thought we played extremely well on defense, and we ran our game plan exactly how we wanted,” Saugus Coach Eric Olsson said. “We just turned it over way too many times.”

Saugus was playing without starting guard Jeff Rogers, who was hospitalized with an undiagnosed illness. Rogers’ backup, Marquez Johnson, was out with a thigh bruise, forcing Olsson to use junior varsity players Toby Nigh (six points) and Dusty Bowman (two).

John Dell led Saugus with nine points, all in the first half.