HALF MOON BAY -- Half Moon Bay basketball coach Rich Forslund said his team has a target on its back, and for more than half of Saturday night’s game Menlo-Atherton’s aim was true.
But just when it looked like M-A was going to run the Cougars out of their own gym, HMB got it together and rallied for a remarkable 55-49 win.
Remarkable, because the Cougars trailed 29-9 late in the first half.
“This is fantastic,” an upbeat Forslund said after the victory. “I think (Menlo-Atherton’s) the best team in the south. I think Burlingame is a close second. To beat them is a huge deal for us. I knew this game was going to be hard as (heck) for us and it proved to be everything and more.”
The victory was Half Moon Bay’s fifth straight against Menlo-Atherton, dating back to a 42-37 M-A triumph at Half Moon Bay on Jan. 4, 2014. Bears coach Mike Molieri, who coached with Forslund at Archbishop Riordan for three years in the late 2000s, has taken to calling HMB the “Evil Empire” because of its struggles against the Cougars.
Forslund & Co. played the Star Wars angle up Saturday night, posting a picture of Molieri and Yoda on the gym wall and writing “Can You Tell the Difference?” Then following introductions, two guys toting light sabers wandered by the Bear bench. One had to laugh.
“It’s been a running little fun theme for us,” Molieri said after the game. “Unfortunately the Evil Empire won today.”
Menlo-Atherton (8-2) was awe-inspiring in the first half, taking a 9-7 lead after one quarter and a 28-14 advantage into halftime.
The Cougars switched from a man defense to a zone in the last minute of the first half and it slowed the M-A momentum, a precursor for the final 16 minutes. Also, sophomore Sam Treanor came off the bench to give Half Moon Bay a lift and his 3-pointer with 22 seconds left in the half whittled a 17-point M-A advantage to 14.
“He played fantastic,” Forslund said of Treanor. “He got 13 points off the bench. Those are huge numbers, especially when you’re down.”
Aggressive M-A was taking the Cougars out of their offense in the first half. So Forslund put four players outside and either 6-foot-7 Austin Hilton or Tommy Nuno inside and the Cougars went to work.
“We knew they were going to go zone and we had some looks, we just didn’t make the shots,” he said. “On defense we all of the sudden just forgot how to defend. We’ll watch film and we’ll take it from there, but it won’t be a fun film fest.”
The Cougars also pressed, slowing down the Bears who couldn’t cash in. On the other end Treanor, Ryan Yerby, Nuno and Hilton were feasting, pulling to within 40-31 by the end of the third quarter.
The Cougars kept chipping away.
Half Moon Bay took its first lead, 49-47 on a lay-in by Nuno (who was celebrating his birthday) with 2:10 left in the game. Then with 53.1 seconds left, Hilton punctuated the big turnaround with a forceful reverse lay-in that had Cougar fans on their feet cheering. He was also fouled on the play and made the free throw.
““That was a turning-point play I thought in his game and the game itself,” Forslund said.
Jake Salinero added a free throw with 29.5 seconds left as HMB boosted its lead to 53-47. A drive to the hoop and lay-in by Eric Norton with 15 ticks left could not rally the Bears who suffered their second defeat after such a splendid non-league that included wins against Archbishop Riordan and Berkeley.
“We’ve only beaten them once (over the years),” Molieri said. “This was a great opportunity because we played such a great first half. That’s the unfortunate thing. But they’re a good team and hopefully we’ll see them again in the playoffs.”
For birthday boy Nuno, it was a game to savor.
“We changed the tempo in the second half, pressing and playing a 2-3 and we started being more aggressive on offense,” Nuno said. “It’s definitely a good win. We’re going to need it later in CCS."
Treanor’s 13 points were a nice complement to Hilton’s game-high 15. Nuno had 12 points and Yerby nine.
Yerby had been struggling of late, but came up big in this game, making 3-of-5 from beyond the arc and Treanor sank 3-of-4 trey attempts. .
"They were OK with us taking those shots,” Forslund said. “They didn’t think we could make enough of those shots to win the game. That was their strategy. Their attitude was either they won’t take the shot or they won’t make it.”
Half Moon Bay, aided by its halftime offensive adjustment, shot 52.5 percent (21 of 40) from the field.
“It opened up lanes to drive and kick out and shoot 3’s, and also to attack the basket and get lay-ups,” Treanor said of the four-out, one-in attack.
Norton gave HMB (10-1) fits in the first half and finished with 15 points. Lucas Fioretti had nine points for the Bears and and Christian Fioretti and Blake Henry eight apiece.
Forslund, not easily impressed, was delighted by his team’s resilience, especially coming off a 42-40 loss to Palma in Wednesday's title game of the Santa Cruz Warriors NorCal Classic.
“I told the guys that was about as proud as I could be with how hard they had to fight back to win that game,” he said. “That was a real testament to our character because I think when they went into the locker room they thought we were dead. The funeral march was starting.”
Half Moon Bay hosts Jefferson at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in a PAL-North opener. M-A is at Capuchino in a PAL-South opener, also at 5:30 p.m.
