Publication Date: Friday, January 16, 2004
PREP BASKETBALL
M-A boys find ways to keep on winning
M-A boys find ways to keep on winning
(January 16, 2004) by Keith Peters
In a perfect world, the Menlo-Atherton High boys' basketball team plays every game on Friday night in noisy, sellout gyms. Craig Carson, however, knows better.
The Bears' second-year coach remembers talking with Mills coach Bob Thompson last year about the reality of PAL South Division basketball.
"He said the league championship is won in Wednesday afternoon games," Carson recalled.
Those are those once-a-week 3:15 p.m. tipoffs in front of a few, quiet fans sitting in less-than-full gyms. Not exactly the formula for high-octane excitement or play.
Still, the games must be played and teams must find a way to rise to the challenge if they harbor any championship hopes.
"It was that way last year and will be the same this year," Carson said.
Fortunately for Carson, his Bears are finding a way to deal with the less-than-perfect conditions. They defeated host Aragon on Wednesday afternoon, 45-38, in a crucial PAL South Division contest, one week after knocking off Burlingame in another battle of division contenders.
The two big victories, which knocked Burlingame and Aragon from the unbeaten ranks, leave the Bears (3-0, 14-2) tied with Woodside for the division lead. The wins avenged a loss to the Panthers last year and two to the Dons, who eliminated the Bears in the Central Coast Section Division II semifinals.
"The kids take it personal," Carson explained. "We looked at the schedule and knew we had win against Burlingame and Aragon. This was real big."
Sweeping those teams is made doubly big by the fact M-A won't face them again. Because of the PAL South's unbalanced scheduled, M-A plays Burlingame and Aragon only once.
Carson, however, would prefer to play them twice.
"I'd love to play them again," Carson said, "and I think they would love to play us again."
The reason is preparation for the postseason. The better the competition, the better chance a team has of being ready for a run at a CCS title and NorCal berth. While Carson is "ecstatic" to be unbeaten in league and 14-2 overall, his two Wednesday wins did little to sharpen his squad.
"I looked at Steve Yob with six minutes left to play and said 'We're just going to have to grind this thing out,'" Carson said on the Aragon win. "We're not going to send a tape out to anyone on this game."
The Bears made only 11 field goals, scored in double figures in only the second quarter, missed 12 free throws and enough layups and easy shots to leave Carson shaking his head in disbelief.
On the positive side, Menlo-Atherton played well enough to win. The Bears did attempt 35 free throws, making 11 in the fourth quarter after Aragon had closed to 28-26 with 7:16 to play. A driving floater by Jesus Contreras gave the Bears their biggest lead at 41-31 with 2:06 to play before scoring their final points all on free throws.
Junior forward Dan Trautman led M-A with 11 points, including a free throw and follow shot midway through the fourth quarter when Aragon was making a run. Yob failed to make a field goal, but hit 10 of 16 free throws.
Menlo-Atherton will be at Sequoia tonight and then hosts San Mateo on Tuesday in another dreaded afternoon (3:15 p.m.) game.
"The minute after the San Mateo game, we'll start preparing for Woodside," Carson said of next week's showdown that could reduce the number of unbeaten PAL South teams to one.
Like Menlo-Atherton, Mid-Peninsula and Sacred Heart Prep also are undefeated in their respective leagues.
Mid-Peninsula (3-0, 9-4) got 31 points from Da'Ron Maxie and 13 from Jason Stergion in a 69-39 thumping of St. Thomas More in a Christian Private Schools Athletic League game. Sacred Heart Prep (5-0, 11-2) got 15 points from Spencer Lucian in a 57-28 romp over St. Lawrence to remain atop the Private Schools Athletic League.
In the SCVAL De Anza Division, meanwhile, Palo Alto (2-1, 13-3) and Gunn (2-1, 10-6) remain a game behind Milpitas while they move closer to their first showdown on Jan. 23 in the Titans' gym.
Both rivals posted solid victories Tuesday. Paly got 14 points from sophomore Cooper Miller in a 69-35 pasting of Wilcox while Gunn got 16 points from senior Chris Mugler in a big 55-47 win over Los Gatos.
Both Paly and Gunn held their opponents to six digits through the first three quarters while opening their leads. The Vikings took a 50-17 lead into the fourth quarter while the Titans held a 32-20 advantage.
Elsewhere, Sean Moreau tallied 14 points to pace Woodside Priory (2-4, 6-7) to a 47-41 PSAL win over Pinewood.
Girls basketball
Palo Alto (3-0, 14-4) began a key stretch of three games by downing visiting Saratoga (1-2) on Wednesday, 45-34. The Vikings will play host to Los Gatos (1-1) tonight at 6 p.m. (followed by the Paly boys at 7:30 p.m.), before hosting Homestead (2-0) on Tuesday at 7 p.m., in a possible showdown for sole possession of first place in the De Anza Division.
"This was a big win for us against Saratoga," said Paly coach Amy Stock. "They are one of the top teams in the league."
After trailing by one at halftime, Paly charged back with improved defense in the second half and received some key free-throw shooting from Jossy Tseng down the stretch. Tseng made four straight free throws at the end of the game, finishing with 13 points. Fellow senior Sara Schulte led the way with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists.
In the CPSAL, Eastside Prep (1-0, 11-3) opened league play with a rousing 94-52 thumping of visiting King's Academy this week. Sade Johnson scored a season-high 28 points and Brijitti Crum added 24, while Chantelle Brown contributed 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Panthers.
In the West Bay Athletic League, Castilleja (3-0, 12-3) played without scoring leader Mika Peterman once again and held on for a 31-22 victory over visiting Woodside Priory. Peterman is still sidelined with a knee injury. Helping pick up the slack was fellow junior Nikki Perlman, who had nine points and 12 rebounds.
E-mail a friend a link to this story. | 
