Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Aragon had an even bigger night.

Los Gatos lost 77-71 to the Dons in the first-round game at Aragon on Wednesday to face CCS elimination and see the season come to an abrupt end.

"It was somewhat disappointing that we didn't end up better," said Los Gatos coach Jim Marino of his club's 14-12 season. "I really thought that we had a pretty good chance in this division, but it was up and down for us the entire year."

It was the pace that Aragon was setting up and down the floor that proved too much for the Wildcats last week, though.

"It was our highest point production of the year," said Marino of the 71 points, "but we gave up 77 points. We just couldn't stop them. They beat us up and down the floor—they beat us in transition."

Los Gatos actually jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead in the game on a couple of three-pointers by Rory Bauer and a bucket by Chris Clock. But the Dons came storming back and the Cats "just couldn't stop them," repeated Marino.

Aragon shooters connected eight times from three-point range, and the Dons opened up a 12-point lead by intermission by outscoring the Cats 15-12 in the first quarter and 24-15 in the second. The clubs matched 14 points in the third; then Gatos started to chip away.

"We cut it to four and had the ball, but we turned it over," said Marino. Los Gatos finished the night with 12 turnovers.

"Their quickness caused some turnovers," added the coach.

It was a three-pointer by Clock that trimmed the Aragon lead to four with 1¹/2 minutes left to play. But with big man Nik Kay already fouled out of the game, it was too much for the Cats to overcome.

"But we scored 30 points in the fourth quarter to make a game of it," said Marino, proud of his club's effort.

Clock scored 11 of his team-high 24 points in the final period. He had three three-pointers among his 10 field goals.

"He led our charge in the fourth quarter," said Marino.

Kay supported with 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Clock ripped down six boards.

Bauer joined the two in double digits with 10 points, including two threes. Aaron Goldfarb had nine points, Mike Robards and Jamal Modir hit four apiece, Matt Martini drilled a three and Dan Bittiker and Fletcher Anderson added two points each. Modir led the club with four assists.