St. Helena's Michele Hanna shoots against Roseland University Prep on Dec. 5.
ANDY WILCOX
HIGH SCHOOL BOYS BASKETBALL
The St. Helena High boys basketball program made history last year, becoming the first Saints in 13 years to win a league championship and first since 1999 to win a section playoff game in the sport.
They shared the North Central League I title with Kelseyville at 10-2 and beat Sonoma Academy 58-50 in the North Coast Section playoff s, finishing 19-8 overall after a 73-41 loss at Head-Royce.
The Saints haven't sat on their laurels. They'll take a 5-0 record into their opening game of the Gene Duff y Tournament at Calistoga, at 3:30 p.m. Thursday against Victory Christian Academy of Santa Rosa (1-4).
They are coming off a 3-0 faring at their own Sutter Home Invitational, where they opened with a 70-35 rout of Roseland University Prep last Thursday.
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"I think if we play our game, we have a good chance of winning the tournament," St. Helena head coach Giules Particelli said after the win over Roseland.
That the Saints did, pummeling Healdsburg in Friday's semifinals, 71-37, and prevailing over rival Middletown 62-54 in Saturday's final.
Against Roseland, seniors Xander Kelperis and Michele "Lele" Hanna led the way with 16 and 13 points, respectively, each with at least a bucket in each quarter.
Junior Dean Sommer had 11 points, seniors Rodolfo Hernandez and Jack Robinson each scored 8, senior Peter Oliver supplied 7, junior Hunter Menegon hit a 3-pointer, and juniors Tristan Mowe and Charlie Blaum each had a 2-pointer. Every Saint scored except senior Charlie Garrett.
The Saints had just 12 points in the first quarter and 14 in the second, before breaking it open with a 25-point third and 19-point fourth.
"It was not as good as it could have been. We started off pretty rough," said Sommer. "But in the second half we came out and did our thing. Xander was playing good on the block; he was making his layups more than most of us. Once we all started getting our rhythm in the paint, we started capitalizing by scoring points."
"Peter is one of our best bucket-getters and he can pretty much do everything -- defend, pass, shoot, he can do all of it. Lele leads us when he's hot. He makes everything in practice."
St. Helena opened the season with a pair of road blowouts, 73-7 at Technology on Nov. 19 and 87-37 at Winters on Nov. 22.
"It's been a good start to the season," Particelli said after the win over Roseland. "The start to tonight's game was a little flat on the offensive side. Our defensive intensity is always very strong, very high energy. We just weren't getting a couple of buckets to fall in the first half. But we responded well after halftime.
"Lele had a good game controlling the ball, driving the lane and kicking, Dean had a solid night defensively and, as always, Xander comes in strong in the post; he cleans up a lot of mishaps down there."
Dave Mosher contributed to this report.
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