The boys basketball team decimated their crosstown rivals, the Menlo Knights, 69-49 on Saturday night.
The game started off with high intensity as senior shooting guard Luca Auer picked off a Menlo pass for a fast break finish to put the Bears’ first points on the board. The Knights were quick to respond with a bucket of their own, but soon after, senior power forward Jerry Williams launched a pass downcourt to Auer for another fast break, 4-2.
The Bears refused to look back from this hot start. Senior point guard Jacob Sutton and Auer furthered M-A’s lead by adding on two threes, setting the score at 10-4 and leaving five minutes in the first quarter.
Relentless defense on both ends of the court prevented either team from scoring for the next few minutes. Coming out of a Menlo timeout with 3:07 left on the clock, the Knights finally broke the dry spell with a drive and finish. Even so, this woke up the Bears, allowing them to rack up six more points and extend their advantage to 16-8. After more back-and-forth play, Williams closed out the quarter with a eurostep finish to give M-A a 20-12 lead.
The second quarter started in favor of the Knights, as their fast-paced offense managed to narrow the score to 22-20 just a minute in. Despite this run, the Bears stayed levelheaded on offense and dominated the paint for numerous buckets on putbacks and postups. Continuing this momentum, a Bears steal made way for a three-pointer from Sutton, establishing a 33-22 advantage for M-A with four minutes on the clock.
Menlo was finally able to get their offense moving, but the Bears held their lead thanks to several strong finishes in the paint from senior center Will Abdella, paired with midrange jumpers from Sutton. This would keep M-A up 41-32 at the end of the second quarter.
Going into the second half, both teams struggled to get their offense moving due to numerous missed shot attempts and clumsy turnovers. Two minutes in, the Knights were able to knock down a three-pointer for the first points of the quarter. However, senior center Aiden Atkins and Williams responded by utilizing their size to bully their defenders and rack up easy points, pushing the score to 52-37.
“Overall, I thought we played hard the whole game. Our offense was doing a really good job, and we were just rebounding and finishing everything, which helped us out a lot,” Atkins said.
Coming out of a Bears timeout with 2:30 left in the quarter, Williams was again able to blow by his defender for a quick drive and finish. Even so, sloppy fouls on defense by the Bears gave the Knights multiple free throw opportunities, eventually ending the third quarter 56-42 in favor of M-A.
The Bears kicked off the final quarter with an electric slam dunk from Atkins that got the crowd on their feet. Auer and Atkins further built on this momentum by continuing to drive and finish, extending M-A’s lead to 62-44. However, the Knights refused to throw in the towel, and a three-pointer paired with a midrange jumper narrowed the gap to 62-49.
With four minutes remaining in the game, Williams found Atkins in the paint once again for another dunk that got the gym rumbling. The Bears kept up their defensive intensity, forcing the Knights to take bad shots and consistently turn the ball over. This prevented Menlo from scoring for the remainder of the time, and a three-pointer from senior small forward Mello Knight would conclude the game 69-49 for a Bears win.
“I think we didn’t play our best, but we still won by 20, so that speaks for itself,” Abdella said.
“We really brought the energy from the jump. Being an away game, we knew Menlo was going to find a way to keep it close, but our energy is what separated us,” Auer said.
The Bears will return to the court at home against the Jefferson Grizzlies this Tuesday at 6 p.m.
