Two local high school basketball teams took to the court on Saturday night with hopes of advancing to Northern California championship games. Both left the court with those hopes dashed.
Menlo-Atherton and Woodside Priory boys were beaten in their respective NorCal semifinal games.
Sixth-seeded Menlo-Atherton (23-11) saw its fine season end in a one-sided 82-46 NorCal Division II semifinal loss to host ant No. 2 Mitty (28-5) on Saturday night in a rematch of their Central Coast Section finale, also won by Mitty.
The Bears, who were coming off a big upset win over No. 3 Richmond on Thursday night, had no answer for Mitty’s 6-9 Drew Gordon, 6-6 Collin Chiverton and 6-5 John Adams. That trio shut off the inside while the Monarchs’ guards swarmed on the perimeter.
Menlo-Atherton trailed by 19-7 after one quarter and 43-19 at halftime. By that time, the game was effectively over. The hard-nose Bears could not effectively press because when they did, the Monarchs usually wound up with a dunk off a fastbreak.
Gordon had 16 points, Adams scored 15 and Chiverton added 14. They were simply too big and too athletic for M-A too handle.
M-A’s 6-6 senior guard Stephen Call, who was guarded by Mitty’s 6-8 Greg Justice, had no points in the first half and suffered a slight left knee injury with 47 seconds remaining. He returned in the second half, making three free throws after being fouled on a three-pointer with 5:03 left in the third quarter.
Call did not score again. In fact, he got off only three shots the entire game and missed all three. It was that kind of night for the Bears.
Mitty led by more than 20 points throughout the third quarter, got to 30 at 62-32 and pushed it to 39 (77-38) with its third string in the game in the fourth quarter.
Woodside Priory
In Division V semifinal action, No. 6 Woodside Priory (26-5) had its magical season come to a close in Modesto after being beaten 73-45 by No. 2 Modesto Christian (29-4).
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