MILLBRAE, CA - Menlo-Atherton head coach Mike Molieri knew Mills wasn’t to be taken lightly.
“I was hearing so much that it was Sequoia versus M-A, but I was telling people to watch out for this team,” he said.
Still, even Molieri, or even the most ardent Mills supporters, couldn’t have fathomed a 17-3 lead in the first quarter on Wednesday.
The host Vikings led by 14 less than six minutes in and fought off three furious Menlo-Atherton comeback efforts for a 56-53 win on Wednesday to remain unbeaten atop the PAL South standings and maintain a tie with Sequoia, who will travel to M-A on Friday.
While it’s usually scoring by committee for CCS No. 14 Mills (13-3, 4-0 PAL South), Colby Vasquez scored 22 points and went 7-for-8 at the free throw line as the Vikings converted 22 of 26 from the charity stripe on the night.
“My teammates were just setting me up,” said Vasquez. “We got good shots and they went down.”
If they weren’t setting up Vasquez with assists, they were doing it with missed shots. The undersized Vikings were relentless on the boards, with Vasquez scoring three times on putbacks, including two in his 12-point first quarter. After Michael Matsuno and James Beckwith traded threes to start the game, Vasquez took over as Mills launched a 14-0 run. A putback plus free throw started the siege. Nick Brouqua connected with Vasquez for three assists in the quarter, first with a full-court pass off a steal, and then in the paint on the following possession for another and-1 to make it 11-3. Another Vasquez putback made it 13-3 with four minutes elapsed, and after yet another Brouqua assist on a Julius Adkins lay-in, Brouqua connected with Vasquez once more to put Mills up by 14.
Though the 12th-ranked Bears found their footing from there, the poor start had Menlo-Atherton (10-5, 3-1) playing catch-up throughout, and they could never quite pull even.
M-A scored the final four points of the first quarter and got within five in the second as Will Beasley scored nine of his team-high 13 points in the quarter, with his three-point play cutting the lead to 23-18. But Mills answered with a Matusno three, assisted by Brouqua, of course, and the Vikings went into the half with a 28-22 lead.
A Bradley Stillman 3-pointer got the Bears back within five with just under six minutes remaining in the third before an 11-2 Mills run. Vasquez, who was everywhere in the win, started it with a 3-pointer and Brouqua had yet another assist on Matsuno’s four-point play to stretch the lead to 41-27.
Once again, the Bears wouldn’t go away, finishing the quarter on a 10-2 run, with Stillman’s three at the buzzer bringing the deficit to six heading into the final period.
With Menlo-Atherton surging, the Vikings focused on controlling the pace. Just three points were scored in the first four minutes of the final quarter, a Vasquez free throw and a long jumper by Brouqua to bring the lead back to nine. The Bears wouldn’t get within five until there was 1:56 remaining. Jhavante Hill scored in traffic and a steal at half-court led to two of James Beckwith’s 10 points to cut the score to 48-43.
Out of the timeout, the Bears thought they had another steal and a clear path to cut the lead to three, but a late whistle and a foul led to two Aaron Chen free throws. Chen scored all six of his points from the line.
A stop on the following possession and two Matsuno free throws made it 52-43, but even then, M-A wasn’t done. Stillman’s 3-pointer cut the lead to six, and the Bears got within two for the first time since opening minutes when Logan Faberowski scored off back-to-back inbound passes as Menlo-Atherton forced a tie-up and had the possession arrow.
After a Mills timeout with 24.6 seconds remaining, M-A got the man they wanted to the line and got the result they wanted, with Julius Adkins missing both of his free throws, but, as was the case all night, the Vikings controlled the boards. This time, it was a tie-up for a loose ball, and with the Bears having benefited from the tie-up less than a minute before, the spoils went to Mills this time.
Even with a size disadvantage, Mills held a 28-17 rebound on the glass, including 11-5 on the offensive side.
“We’ve just got to get to our rebounding positions fast,” said Vasquez. “Coach always gets on us for rebounding, so we’ve just got to get there quick, box out right away, get a body on them and crash the boards.”
“They were a tougher team physically and mentally,” said Molieri of the Vikings’ rebounding. “I don’t say that much, but today they were.”
Adkins was fouled once again following the inbound, and this time he converted both of his free throws, as well as another pair after an M-A three rimmed out. Adkins, starting in place of the injured Jiries Kaileh, finished with eight points and nine rebounds.
A James Beckwith 3-pointer in the final seconds brought the deficit to three, but M-A was out of timeouts and the final seconds ran off the clock to seal the Mills victory.
Amazingly, Mills won with just a six-man rotation. Normally, Rick Hanson plays seven, but with Kaileh injured, only six saw action, and the one reserve, Quinn Bura, played roughly six minutes. The Vikings got it done with the five men on the court playing as a cohesive unit, and without much size, they all had a hand in every facet of the game.
“I was playing center last year, so I got experience playing big down low,” said Brouqua, who stands at exactly six feet. He finished with eight points and eight assists.
Both teams will be back in action Friday, with Menlo-Atherton hosting Sequoia while Mills travels to Aragon.
Around the PAL
CCS No. 6 Sequoia (12-4, 4-0) maintained a tie with Mills for first place by opening up a 19-0 lead on Hillsdale (12-4, 1-3) in the first quarter and cruising to a 64-38 victory. Myles Nunez led the Cherokees with 19 points.
Cal Spurlock scored eight of his team-high 21 points in an 11-0 run to close the game as Burlingame (3-13, 2-2) beat visiting Woodside (9-7, 2-2) 49-41. Spurlock gave the Panthers the lead with a layup with 49 seconds to play, while the Wildcats got a game-high 25 points from Gabe DeVitis, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 4:14 to play and a pair of free throws to stretch the lead to three before the hosts finished on their 11-0 run.
Sho Takahashi’s layup with eight seconds left gave Carlmont (8-8, 2-2) a 56-55 win over San Mateo (8-8, 1-3), and Aragon (7-8, 1-3) beat Capuchino (6-10, 0-4) 56-41.
In the North, Terra Nova (7-8, 3-0) got 19 points from freshman Justin Milch, 14 from Alex Pera and 11 from Dylan McAdams as the Tigers picked up a 73-55 road win over South San Francisco (3-13, 1-3). #21 Jefferson (9-6, 2-1) cruised to a 59-33 win over Oceana (3-13, 0-4) and No. 12 Half Moon Bay (12-3, 4-0) blanked Westmoor (4-11, 1-2) in the third quarter en route to a 45-32 win. Sam Treanor led the Cougars with 11 points.
