ATHERTON, Calif. — No Nick Tripaldi, no problem.
Playing without their top scorer on Monday night, the Menlo-Atherton Bears had no trouble with the Jefferson Grizzlies, rolling to a 74-29 home win.
While Tripaldi sat out as he recovered from bronchitis, his teammates made up for his absence with efficient 3-point shooting and the same fast-paced, well-executed offense that powered the Bears into the CCS Open Division Semifinals last year. They shot 44% on 3-pointers for the night, and if not for a rare off-night for Trevor Wargo, who made just two of his seven attempts, they would have connected on well over half their tries.
JD Carson led Menlo-Atherton (2-0) with 16 points, stepping into a leadership role to fill one of the few holes left from last year’s graduating class, a group that included Will Beasley and James Beckwith.
“The seniors have to come together as one,” he said.
Carson led a balanced attack as Skyler Thomas scored 11 on 5-of-6 shooting, Spencer Lin scored 10 while missing just one shot and Justin Anderson, Treavon Norton and Wargo each finished with eight. Anderson had three steals and dished out five assists while Carson and Wargo each had four. Still, head coach Mike Molieri, in typical fashion, wanted more out of his team.
“We’ve got to get a lot smarter with discipline,” he said. “These guys want to reach every time. They have a football mentality and always want to go for the interception, but we need to understand our base and work on our man.”
That lack of discipline was evident in the first half as Jefferson (2-3) reached the double bonus early in the second quarter but largely failed to capitalize, going 8-for-14 at the line in the first half as the Bears opened up a 41-19 lead. TQ Byrd scored six of his team-high 10 for the Grizzlies in the third, but it wasn’t enough to keep up as M-A led by 40 at the end of the quarter to induce a running clock for the fourth.
Jefferson will return to action on Thursday against Gateway (3-1) in the first round of the Lowell Cardinal Classic, tipping off at 6 p.m., while Menlo-Atherton will take on Granite Bay (1-4) on Friday in the 7:30 game at Bellarmine’s DJ Frandsen Memorial. The host Bells take on Palo Alto in the other game, with the winners and losers of each set to meet on Saturday.
