By Devin Bradshaw
Special to Las Positas athletics

After one of the best regular seasons in school history, the Las Positas men's basketball team had plans on a deep playoff run. Those plans were dashed Saturday night.

The No. 7-seeded Hawks (25-4), at home after having a first-round bye in the 3C2A Northern California Regional Playoffs, were upset 76-70 by a gritty No. 10 seed, the Sierra Wolverines.

"I'm just super disappointed," Hawks head coach James Giacomazzi said.  "I wanted the kids to have that experience of advancing in this tournament. I mean, it's the best thing that our level has to offer …  It was a back-and-forth, tight game pretty much throughout. But when you get an opportunity — down one with a steal and a breakaway — you get flashes of like, 'We're going to do this.' And then to come up short is just really disappointing."

Las Positas — ranked fifth in the state - had its chances throughout.

Sophomore guard Jaden Woodard led balanced Las Positas with 16 points. The Hawks started fast behind freshman 6-foot-9 big man Ted Bigg-Wither, who scored 13 of his 15 points in the first half. He controlled the low block, operated in the post and dominated the glass on both ends, helping push the Hawks to an early 18-7 lead.

The plan wasn't necessarily for the Australian to receive as many touches as he did. He simply took charge early.
"The (game plan) was put me on the weak side and I was a bit grumpy," Bigg-Wither said. "And that's why I came out firing."

Following his lead, the Las Positas came out the more aggressive team, on both ends, commencing an all-out assault on the rim. Their defensive pressure forced Sierra into double-digit turnovers in the first half.
But the Wolverines hung around.

They absorbed the Hawks best shots and slowly started to work their way back into the game. Behind monster performances from Garrett Dutro and Jayce Underwood, who finished with 25 and 24 points respectively, Sierra was able to break down Las Positas' staunch defense, with consistent shot-making and ball control.

"They did a good job," Giacomazzi said. "I mean, I felt like we took them out of a lot of what they normally would do and that's a credit to our players on that. And they basically took 2 (Dutro) and played him in space and got him out of the ball screens. and he's just a load if he gets the ball, it's just the degree of difficulty goes up so much versus when he doesn't have the ball. And so the idea was like, can you deny him the ball? Can you make (him) work to get the ball? And then when he gets the ball, they just kind of space out and he's a shot maker."

Not surprisingly, Dutro is a candidate for Player of the Year.

Though the season ends in heartbreak for the Hawks, Bigg-Wither has gotten a taste. He sees areas of growth for himself and the team and feels ready to build on them. He and Giacomazzi are excited for this upcoming recruiting class. They believe it will be pivotal for the Hawks to make the jump and get back to a place where they can go far in the state tournament. "I think as a second-year, I'll feel well in that leadership role, it will do good for my confidence," Bigg-Wither said. "So I just got to embrace that. And yeah, we're a young team. We got a good class coming in next year. But we had a really good team this year. So it just hurts."

The future still looks bright for the Hawks, even in the wake of a tough loss. "My hope would be that we tasted this a little bit," Giacomazzi said. "And now we kind of want to get back to the basics if you will. And we were kind of this way a few years ago with Elijah (Mobley) and them as freshmen. We lost in the first round. This is the second. But we lost in a tough one where we had to take some lumps. And then the next year, we go to the Elite Eight. I hope we do that … And then our recruiting efforts have been outstanding, and I feel really, really excited about the players that we're bringing in next year."