SAN FRANCISCO — Even with star junior Miles Amos sidelined with a meniscus injury, the Stuart Hall Knights put up one of their most solid performances of the season on Wednesday night, beating Lick-Wilmerding 52-37 at Kezar Pavilion in a BCL West semifinal game.
Amos, the lead scorer for the Knights and an excellent point guard, has missed the last two weeks, but a young Stuart Hall team showed the composure and skill of a veteran group, even without their star.
“As a group, we had to come together and make smart decisions,” said Alex Byrd. “It’s tough having Miles out, but we had to play as a team.”
Stuart Hall (17-9) used a balanced scoring attack, with three players in double-figures, as well as two key runs to create separation from the Tigers to beat Lick-Wilmerding (21-6) for the third time this year. Trailing 15-12 two minutes into the second quarter, the Knights outscored their opponents 12-1 to close the half, including 8-0 over the final three minutes of the period. In the third quarter, they went on a 14-3 run to take a 41-26 lead.
Freshman Nigel Burris led all scorers with 15 points, including a three to give second-seeded Stuart Hall an eight-point lead going into the break. He was also instrumental in that third-quarter run, with a three to give the Knights their first double-digit lead at 37-26 and a turnaround jumper off a scramble to bring the lead to 15. That run was started by Jay Henry Ryan, a sophomore who scored seven of his 10 points in the quarter.
“We’ve been like that all year,” said head coach Charley Johnson of his team’s balanced attack. “The kids have all bought in and they’re all chipping in.”
The third double-digit scorer for Stuart Hall was Spencer O’Brien-Steele, who finished with 12. The Knights also got key contributions from Byrd and Tomas Wolber, two of the only players on the roster that got significant playing time last year. With Amos out, their experience was even more valuable. Byrd finished with eight points, while Wolber, known as a standout defender, had five points and seven assists.
“Tomas played a great game,” said Johnson. “Sometimes I can forget and be very critical of him because I forget he’s in the 10th grade.”
Lick-Wilmerding got 12 points from Walter Lum, but the old rims at Kezar proved unfriendly to the third-seeded Tigers aside from their early surge.
“I thought Stuart Hall was playing chess against us, picking and choosing their moves” said Lick-Wilmerding head coach Eliot Smith. “We also missed so many easy layups.”
Royce Fong scored all seven of his points in the first half, while Allen Wilson added eight for the Tigers, who are currently projected for the sixth seed in the NCS Division IV bracket.
Amos may make his return on Saturday in the BCL West Championship against University, scheduled for 8 pm at Dominican University.
More action at Kezar
Top-seeded University got off to an uncharacteristically cold start, trailing Urban 18-17 at halftime, but used a 20-2 run in the third quarter to pull away for a 65-40 victory. University (25-2) got a game-high 21 points from Spencer Spivy, 12 from Charley Moore and 10 from Julian Manyika as the Red Devils overcame an 0-for-11 performance from 3-point range in the first half. Urban (13-14) got 12 points from Ari Gamshad and 11 apiece from Finn Conway and Leo Krinsky, but struggled to get secondary scoring and was dealt a blow when Krinsky suffered a bloody nose in the third quarter. Though he returned just a few minutes later, the fourth-seeded Blues were largely shut down while their leader was given medical attention.
On the girls’ side, third-seeded Lick-Wilmerding overcame two prior losses to University, outscoring the second-seeded Red Devils 18-3 in the fourth quarter for a 42-26 win. Lick-Wilmerding (15-9) opened up an early 9-0 lead and went ahead for good on Lauren Carothers-Liske’s 3-pointer with three minutes left in the third. After being held to just 33 points in each of their first two meetings, the Tigers erupted in the fourth to pull away. Ava Grey scored a team-high 11 points, Ambika Jay added nine and Carothers-Liske finished with eight. University (18-8) got 11 points from Ella Pearl and held a one-point lead at halftime after outscoring the Tigers 10-4 in the second quarter.
The Lick-Wilmerding girls will face top-seeded Urban at 6 pm on Saturday at Dominican University. The Blues won each regular-season meeting by just three points. On Wednesday, Urban (21-4) earned a 66-48 win over fourth-seeded Marin Academy (12-9).
