The postseason continues for the Priory boys and Menlo-Atherton girls following their first-round regional victories in the CIF State Basketball Championships on Wednesday night.
For the Palo Alto girls and Eastside Prep boys, however, their respective seasons have come to an end following first-round losses.
The Priory boys and M-A girls both advanced to second-round games on Saturday in quite different fashion. The No. 8-seeded Panthers squeaked out a 77-75 overtime win over No. 9 Williams (20-5) while the No. 4-seeded Bears had an easier time in a 56-44 victory over No. 13 seed George Washington (13-12).
Priory (15-8) got 26 points from 6-foot-5 senior Scotty Harris and 15 points from 6-6 sophomore Ayo Aderoboye, who had five points in the overtime period in Portola Valley. Junior Nico Arslaner contributed 13 points, including the winning tip-in in OT. It was only Priory’s second-ever NorCal home game.
“We played poorly in my opinion, because we did not go inside enough and shot under 57 percent from the free-throw line,” said Priory coach David Moseley. “Our game plan was to run, and we slowed the game down and the other team got in a grove. We were also not supposed to shoot 3’s, and we went 2 for 22.”
The Panthers trailed at halftime, 32-29, before tying the game in the fourth period.
Next up; for the the Panthers will be a second-round game at No. 1 seed St. Joseph Notre Dame on Saturday in Alameda at 7:30 p.m. Priory reached the second round last season before falling.
In Atherton, the M-A girls bounced back from two straight losses in the Central Coast Section Open Division basketball playoffs with a sold win over the visitors from San Francisco in a rematch of a nonleague game on December 12, which the Bears won 68-41.
Menlo-Atherton again led the entire game as the Eagles struggled to defend the Bears’ post players. Sophomore Greer Hoyem led the Bears with 22 points and 14 rebounds while junior Ofa Sili added nine points plus seven boards and Megan Sparrow had seven points and 11 rebounds.
The Eagles closed their deficit to eight points in the second with Jessica Nagano scoring nine of her 16 points on the night. In the second half, the Bears pulled away from a 30-22 lead with Annalisa Crowe hitting a pair of threes as the Bears cruised to victory.
Menlo-Atherton (26-4), which lost in the first round last season, next will host No. 5 Heritage (23-9) of Brentwood in a second-round game Saturday at 6 p.m. Heritage advanced with a 60-41 win over No. 12 North Salinas.
In another Division I opener, No. 6-seeded Palo Alto (19-8) saw their season come to an end in a 55-49 loss to No. 11 Dublin (19-10) at Gunn High.
The Vikings overcame a turnover-plagued first quarter to take a 31-18 halftime lead. Dublin, however, came out of intermission and nailed seven 3-pointers during a 27-point third quarter to grab a 45-39 lead entering the final period. Paly’s 18 second-point points matched Dublin’s effort in the opening half as the Vikings made just six of 30 field-goal attempts.
Senior Alexis Harris led Paly with 16 points. She graduates along with Coco Lovely and Maddy Atwater.
In a boys’ Division V opener, No. 12-seeded Eastside Prep saw their season come to an end in a 62-30 loss to No. 5 Urban (23-9) on Wednesday night at Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco. The Panthers (15-13) got 10 points from sophomore forward Josh Walker-Ford and nine from junior guard Isaiah East. Eastside Prep will graduate just one senior, Daryl Carr.
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports
By Palo Alto Online Sports