Publication Date: Friday, January 09, 2004
M-A boys grab inside track in PAL basketball with league-opening win
M-A boys grab inside track in PAL basketball with league-opening win
(January 09, 2004) Palo Alto boys open league play by rallying past Fremont,53-42
by Keith Peters
The PAL South Division boys' basketball league features eight teams, including Menlo-Atherton. Instead of playing a full double round-robin schedule of 14 games, however, some teams are only played once during a 12-game season.
Menlo-Atherton coach Craig Carson isn't complaining. One of the teams the Bears play just once - Burlingame - is perhaps M-A's chief rival for the division championship.
And, that showdown with Burlingame, is already in the books and in Menlo-Atherton's favor.
The Bears took perhaps a big step toward the PAL South Division title on the first day of the league season by posting an impressive 61-47 victory Wednesday in Atherton.
"This was a big win for us," Carson said, "especially since Burlingame is a very good team and we only play them once."
Menlo-Atherton (1-0, 12-2) jumped into the driver's seat in the PAL South by grabbing an early 12-2 lead and maintaining its double-digit advantage throughout the game. The Bears did a fine job with their interior game in addition to playing solid on defense. M-A went into the game allowing just under 46 points a game.
Burlingame helped the Bears by shooting poorly from the perimeter. The Panthers made just four of 24 shots from three-point range, including a miserable two of 13 in the second half. Burlingame guad Drew Shiller, considered the top player in the division, did score 17 points but made only six of 18 shots. M-A guard Carson Finkle was responsible for harassing Shiller and held him scoreless in the third period when the Bears pulled away.
A basket by Eric Peterson with 2:26 left in the game gave M-A an 57-44 lead.
Junior forward Dan Trautman led the Bears with 14 points while senior guard Steve Yob added 13 and Finkle tossed in 12.
The Bears, who host Carlmont on Friday, visit Aragon next Wednesday for the teams' only meeting this year. Aragon was picked to finish third in the division behind M-A and Burlingame.
In SCVAL De Anza Division openers Wednesday night, Palo Alto (1-0, 12-2) overcame a slow start to beat visiting Fremont, 53-42, and Gunn (0-1, 9-6) lost an early lead and fell to visiting Milpitas, 49-44.
Paly fell behind in the first quarter, 13-5, as Fremont knocked down some shots in transition and the Vikings didn't. The second quarter was the complete opposite as Paly grabbed a 24-19 halftime lead.
"We just kind of wore them down with our pressure and forced some turnovers," said Paly coach Peter Diepenbrock.
Still, the Vikings led by just two points entering the fourth quarter. Paly, however, outscored the visitors by 17-8 to win going away.
"We played some real good halfcourt defense," Diepenbrock said of the final quarter, during which Paly forced the visitors into numerous turnovers.
Sophomore point guard Jeremy Lin paced Paly with 17 points, six rebounds and four assists. Senior center Oystein Aukland had 13 points and 11 rebounds while sophomore forward Cooper Miller added 10 points and eight rebounds.
Paly will visit Milpitas (1-0, 12-1) on Friday night at 7:30 p.m., in an early showdown for the division lead.
Gunn could have helped the Vikings by dumping Milpitas on Wednesday. The Titans took a 13-10 lead after one quarter before the Trojans rallied to tie at 36 entering the fourth quartere and then pulled ahead.
Freshman Peter Jordan led Gunn with 14 points while senior Chris Mugler added 11.
Girls basketball
Sacred Heart Prep (0-1, 6-6) and Menlo-Atherton (0-1, 3-9) both opened up their respective league seasons with losses on Wednesday.
The Gators opened West Catholic Athletic League action with a 44-37 loss to visiting St. Ignatius while the Bears opened PAL South Division play with a 50-42 loss to host Burlingame.
SHP overcame an early deficit and climbed to within 38-35 with less than two minutes remaining. The Wildcats, however, broke the Gators' fullcourt press and scored to put the game away.
Sacred Heart Prep hurt itself with just two points in the third quarter. Jessica Pecota led the Gators with 12 points.
Meredith Pressfield scored 12 points in M-A's loss. The Bears stayed close for three quarters before being outscored in the fourth period, 12-5.
Soccer
Menlo-Atherton senior Javier Hil scored four goals to keep the Bears undefeated in the PAL Bay Division following a 6-3 thumping of visiting Hillsdale on Wednesday. M-A takes a 4-0 record (8-2 overall) into a big showdown Friday against visiting Burlingame (3-1) at 3 p.m.
Menlo School (0-2-2, 2-3-5) let an early lead slip away and had to settle for a 2-2 tie with visiting Sequoia.
In girls' nonleague play, Pinewood (2-6-2) jumped to an early lead and held on nfor a 4-1 victory over visiting Castilleja. Sophomore Carrie Weiss scored twice for the Panthers while senior Katie Whitlock added two assists. Seniors Christina Eichler and Hana Holubar added the other goals while Genny Orr scored for the Gators (1-6).
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