Over the last five years, Half Moon Bay has dominated the PAL North, going 58-2 in league play over that stretch. The Cougars have won five straight league titles, splitting with Jefferson last year and sharing the crown with Terra Nova in 2015. It’s been one of the most predictable leagues for half of a decade, but that’s finally on the verge of changing.
The PAL North, typically a foregone conclusion, has four legitimate title contenders this season. No North champion has lost more than one game in the six years since the league switched back to geographic divisions, but there could be all sorts of parity this year with teams beating up on each other.
Note that two league games were played on December 21, with Terra Nova beating South San Francisco 49-39 and Jefferson posting a 68-47 victory over Oceana.
El Camino (1-11)
A young Colts team has struggled to put complete games together and has faced numerous big halftime deficits, but the way El Camino has often managed to fight back in the second half shows this team’s potential. Both shooting and defending 3-pointers have been major issues for the Colts, though, and in a league full of teams that like to shoot from the outside, that’ll have to improve in order for Denzel McCollum’s team to find success. With just one senior on the roster, this group should have ample time to develop, and depending on when 6-foot-4 Serra transfer Christian Viana is declared eligible, EC may have some size in the middle to work with.
Half Moon Bay (7-5)
For the first time in a decade, the Cougars don’t have much size in the post. With Ethan Menzies graduating, the last of the HMB big men are gone, leaving John Parsons to work with a much smaller team. It’s also one without tons of experience, though four players — Mario Campbell, Chase Hebb, Michael Hourani and Sorie Syme — all got minutes off the bench last year. As those players have adjusted from playing in sparkplug roles to conserving their energy for a full game, Half Moon Bay has often started games strong but struggled to close them out.
Still, the Cougars do have a winning record and none of their losses have come to any questionable teams.
Jefferson (7-6, 1-0)
Since a 2-5 start, the Grizzlies have won five of six, including a 28-point win over a solid Washington team on Thursday. While three-year starters Daniel Benjamin and Rodney Lawrence are gone, Marquez Costiniano, who has started for four years (two at Westmoor and two at Jefferson), leads the Grizzlies into battle with excellent speed and ball-handling skills. Lawrence’s 6-foot-5 frame is missed, but John Falabella’s team has more size up and down the lineup this year, rather than having it all concentrated at one position.
With junior Saif Fara playing a physical game in the post and sophomore Brooks Daniels bringing over his bruising style from the football field to a power forward position, this is an extremely deep team. The one undersized player Jefferson has is 5-7 guard J.J. Cruz, a threat from the outside. While the Grizzlies aren’t a great shooting team and thrive by keeping games in the 40s, Oceana transfer Jovani Image is now eligible and should add another scoring threat.
Oceana (1-9, 0-1)
Results have yet to manifest themselves in the form of wins as Oceana is under yet another new head coach, with Jon Mercado becoming the third man to head the program in the last four years. All but four of the Sharks’ losses have been by 15 points or fewer, meaning they’re just a few shots away from getting on a roll. Having reached 50 points just twice, offense has been an issue, but one hot-shooting game can quickly reverse course.
South San Francisco (5-7, 0-1)
The Warriors are in a very similar situation to their crosstown rivals at El Camino, with just one senior on the roster. That’s Demetrius Gutu, a tight end on the football field who is a hulking presence in the middle. Inconsistency has been a problem for Jesse McCowan’s team, and South City’s schedule hasn’t featured too many tough games to this point, but Nico Alimorong and company have shown flashes of brilliance, including a 57-52 win over San Mateo.
Terra Nova (9-4, 1-0)
If you surveyed the entirety of San Mateo County to find a predicted winner of the PAL North, you’d likely get a wide variety of responses, but a slight plurality would likely lean towards the Tigers. Even without Jackson Kubal, who tore his ACL playing football, Terra Nova has 6-foot-5 Jared Julian, a tremendous all-around athlete who starred as a dual-threat quarterback, in the post. Sophomore wing Justin Milch, the third of head coach Kenny Milch’s sons, is a prolific offensive weapon and with point guard Jordan Salgado facilitating, he gets tons of open looks, as do Jack Bellinger and Chase McKnight.
TN’s win over Piedmont Hills to claim the Tim Cole Memorial title is the best nonleague win of any PAL North team, but if there’s one issue for the Tigers, it’s games that come down to the final possessions. Terra Nova is just 2-4 in games decided by six points or fewer, including last week’s 53-52 defeat at Woodside.
Westmoor (5-7)
Something of an afterthought last year, the Rams are once again a major threat as a sleeper team, lacking an individual standout player but armed with a roster full of guys willing to hit the deck for every loose ball and crash the boards. Though Westmoor has a losing record in nonleague play, all but one of those losses (to Reno power Bishop Manogue, no less) were close.
There was a surprising loss to Wallenberg in December, but Herb Yaptinchay’s team was competitive against both Carlmont and Hillsdale over the past week. Scoring droughts can cause problems for the Rams, but they allow just 48.5 points per game to make up for it.
