Hillsdale High boys' basketball coach Brett Stephenson knows its a long season, especially after the Knights dropped a 48-42 decision to host Carlmont on Wednesday evening.
"The south is pretty competitive; there are no easy ones," Stephenson said. "We'll learn something from it."
The Knights (2-1 in the PAL South Division, 10-5 overall) look to regain their momentum Friday when they host Capuchino as part of a quadruple header. The varsity boys are expected to start at 8 p.m.
Hillsdale jumped to an 11-0 lead with 1:43 left in the first quarter on a basket by Dominic Tanouye-Wolf.
Suddenly the baskets stopped falling, allowing the Scots (3-0, 14-1) to pull even at 24 by halftime.
"We went cold for a little bit," Stephenson said. "We had good looks but they didn't fall."
Carlmont took its first lead, at 29-28, with 5:34 remaining in the third quarter. That's when Mduduzi Hlatshawyo hit a 3-pointer.
Dante Fontenot hit a shot to put the Knights back on top, but the Scots took over for good when Michael Costello hit a jumper with 2:11 left in the third quarter.
Junior Brian Houle scored 11 points to lead Hillsdale while Joe Pitocchi had 16 and Costello 14 for Carlmont.
Burlingame defeated Aragon, 63-60, despite 20 points from Nick Frankel. The Dons (1-2, 10-5) are still considered one of the teams to beat in the PAL South Division and will look to gain a foothold in the victory column Friday when they visit San Mateo.
Burlingame, Carlnont and Mills are all 3-0 in league play. Hillsdale is right behind at 2-1.
In girls basketball there are four undefeated teams, each at 3-0: Burlingame, San Mateo, Woodside and Menlo-Atherton.
