M-A boys basketball clamps down, beats rival Menlo

By Greg Lydon

Jan. 7, 2010

Menlo-Atherton- 12 12 19 10 - 53

Menlo School - 13 18 7 0 - 38

Scoring

M-A

Jeff Keller- 23

Reed Foster- 8

Walbank Mahoni- 11

Nils Gilberson- 4

Myles Brewer- 5

Menlo

Harrison Nida- 6

Richard Harris- 14

Kent Lacob- 2

Jonny Halprin- 5

Mac Osborne- 9

James Carpenter- 2

In the annual non-league boys basketball tussle between rivals Menlo-Atherton and Menlo School, the host Bears nearly put a lid on the rim to defeat their nearby neighbors 53-38 Wednesday night at M-A.

The offensive exploits of Menlo-Atherton High senior guard Jeff Keller got things started right early with a quick seven points.

But it was the Bears stifling defense that sealed the deal.

M-A held the visitors to only seven second half points, all coming in the third quarter en route to a convincing double digit victory.

Menlo couldn't light up the scoreboard at all in the fourth, leaving the Knights without a fourth quarter point and their second defeat in as many nights.

Menlo lost on the road against Harker 49-44 Tuesday night.

The Knights are now 2-8 overall and 0-1 in league with another Bay league bout on the docket Friday evening at Woodside Priory.

The match-up was only the second home game of the year for the Bears, who improved to 8-5 overall heading into a Friday night road tilt against another nearby rival Woodside High.

“Its a triple-header of rivalry games this week for us,” M-A head coach Phillip White said. “We lost a tough game to Paly earlier in the week so we were happy to be able to get this one against Menlo tonight.”

Keller, who earned tournament MVP honors last week in the North Monterey County Tournament, dropped in a game-high 23 points in the victory.

The savvy senior guard scored 13 of his 23 in the second half.

“This was a game we felt we had to have,” Keller said. “It all started defensively for us in the second half. We pressured them a lot and were able to get better shots on offense. I stopped forcing shots and only was taking shots when I saw an opening or the shot clock was winding down.”

Keller also knocked down the game winning shot to upend San Benito High-Hollister in the tourney final.

“Its been a big week,” Keller said. “It feels great to beat Menlo. We always know when we play them that its going to be a battle.”

While the Bears outscored their opponent 29-7 in the second session, the first half was a completely different story.

Menlo closed out both the first and second quarters strong and took a 31-24 lead into the locker room.

Knights center Richard Harris matched Keller with 10 points in the first half.

Harris, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, finished the game with a team-high 14 points in losing effort.

“That was probably our best half of basketball we've playing in the last two years,” Menlo School head coach Kris Weems said. “Our problem right now is that we just can't sustain our level of play throughout the whole game. Guys have to keep making plays. We did a poor job of closing out the game tonight.”

Six different Knights scored in the first half, but poor shooting and costly turnovers doomed the visitors in the second half.

M-A regained the lead in the third and never looked back.

Four straight points from Keller, including a smooth pull up jumper in traffic, pushed the Bears led to double digits in the fourth.

M-A went onto to win the game 53-38.