“DAVID FLORES: Taft graduate Tate maintaining Raiders' hoops tradition”

DAVID FLORES: Taft graduate Tate maintaining Raiders' hoops tradition

Posted: 05 Jan 2011 03:02 AM PST

by David Flores / Kens5.com

kens5.com

Posted on January 5, 2011 at 4:55 AM

Updated today at 5:10 AM

It took me less than half a quarter of the Taft-Warren boys basketball game Tuesday night to conclude that Joey Tate coaches about the same way he played when he was a high school kid.

With a lot of passion.

No one familiar with Tate's background should be surprised with the bang-up job he's doing at Taft, his alma mater.

Tate played for Mike Osterman, the only other boys basketball coach the Raiders have ever had, and was a senior on the 1996-97 team that advanced to the state tournament for the first time in school history.

Osterman coached at Taft for 23 seasons before resigning in 2008 to spend more time with his family. By the time he hung up his whistle, Osterman had become synonymous with the Raiders and established one of the strongest basketball programs in the region.

Three years after his final season, Osterman casts a sizable shadow on Taft boys basketball. And that's fine with Tate, an assistant under Osterman for four seasons before getting promoted.

"I feel the pressure every time I step on the floor, but that's because I want to do my best to maintain what Coach Osterman built," Tate, 32, said. "Coach Osterman brought a passion to school every day. He cared about basketball and he cared about his players."

Taft had a relatively easy time with Warren at the O'Connor gym, beating the Warriors 67-46 to improve to 19-4 overall and 5-0 in District 27-5A. Clark (14-5, 4-0) can join the Raiders atop the standings with a victory against Holmes on Wednesday night.

Taft and Clark play for the first time this season Monday night at O'Connor.

Warren slipped to 16-8 and 3-2.

"I was pleased with our defense tonight," Tate said. "We played with a lot of energy."

The Raiders led 18-13 after the first quarter, 32-26 at halftime and 44-35 heading into the fourth period. Josh Linson buried a 3-pointer and scored on a layup in the first minute of the quarter to spark a 15-0 run that gave Taft a 59-35 lead. Linson capped the run with another 3-pointer before Tauren Prince-Waller scored to end Warren's drought.

Raiders guard Deondre Logan led all scorers with 23 points. Linson and Haleem Moultrie finished with 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Marcus Keene (10) was the only Warren player to score double figures.

Taft has won 13 consecutive games and 16 of its past 17.

Like Osterman before him, Tate never stops stressing the importance of keeping victories – and losses, for that matter – in perspective during the long season.

"He keeps us focused every day," Logan said. "He doesn't want us getting too cocky."

There's not much chance of that happening on Tate's watch. Although he's only 32, Tate is pretty much an old-school guy who believes that basketball fundamentals never go out of style.

That's why Tate jumped at the chance to coach under Osterman when there was a job opening at Taft in 2004.

"I had always told him I wanted to come back and coach with him at Taft," Tate said.

After sitting out his first year out of high school, Tate played basketball for two seasons at Temple Junior College. He transferred to

Texas-Pan American in 2000 and played two more seasons.

Tate was a student assistant at Texas-Pan American for one year before graduating in 2003. He began his coaching career as an assistant at Weslaco that year.

After only one season, Tate was back in San Antonio working under his former high school coach.

"One thing Coach Osterman always said is that you should always coach like it's your last game," Tate said. "That's always stayed with me, because you never know when it could be your last game."

It's going to be interesting to see Tate grow as a coach and mentor.

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