HMB runs over Westmoor; North title in reach

“It was great,” Ediger said. “We all love each other on the team. I like our culture. It’s always fun to watch the end of the bench get to play, make a few plays.”

There are teams that aspire to greatness rallying around one star player, but this isn’t the case with Half Moon Bay. While Ediger possesses that star quality, his smooth, up-tempo style of play is contagious in the sense that it causes so many other Cougars to follow suit, allowing the team concept to blossom.

“I think we are playing our best basketball right now,” Cougars head coach John Parsons said. “We’ve really kind of changed the way we played midway through the year — be more up-tempo, press a little bit more — which I think has paid off. The kids have been doing a really good job of listening in practice. So, I do think we are playing our best basketball now which I think is good timing.”

Unbeaten in Peninsula Athletic League North Division play, Half Moon Bay is sitting all alone with second-place Jefferson looking to put a chink in the Cougars’ armor when the rivals meet Friday.

The game suddenly became a focal point when Jefferson was award a win via forfeit from a Jan. 28 game at El Camino, a game in which Jefferson walked off the court having suffered its second league loss of the season. But El Camino was ruled to have used an ineligible player, rendering Jefferson the winner, meaning the Grizzlies can force a tie with Half Moon Bay with a win Friday night.

“We’ve done a good job of putting ourselves in the position here,” Parsons said. “We know that Friday is for league. If we win that game, then we will have clinched league. And, going to Jefferson, who was co-champs [with Half Moon Bay in 2017-18], and then they won it last year, we know that is going to be the hardest game of the league schedule for us. So, we’re going to give it our best shot.”

The Cougars are on quite a roll, though, having won all but one of their PAL North Division games by double digits this season. The one they didn’t, a 53-44 victory Jan. 14 over El Camino, the Cougars won by 9.

Wednesday, Half Moon Bay sped to a double-digit lead by the opening minutes of the second quarter when sophomore guard Owen Wooliever scored in transition off one of Westmoor’s 18 turnovers.

Minutes later, Ediger followed with an impressive transition score with a two-handed dunk to make it 29-18, and the Cougars led by two bills for the rest of the contest.

“It’s been a constant battle just to get our energy up to the level of intensity that we wanted,” Parsons said. “So, we made a change in our lineup and then just started pressuring the ball, picking up a little bit earlier, which forced our guys getting their energy level going and their intensity level, which I think was a big change for us.”

The big change at the outset of PAL North play was the addition of sophomore guard Zeke Syme to the starting lineup. Syme was quiet in the box score Wednesday, but three Cougars scored in double figures, with junior guard Sean Ediger — Mykola Ediger’s twin brother — and junior forward Ben McKnight totaling 10 points apiece.

Westmoor was led by senior Jasiah Cox with 17 points. The Rams, though, scuffled with a 34% shooting clip from the floor.

“We try to (play fast),” Westmoor head coach Herb Yapinchay said. “The thing about Half Moon Bay is they’re a very solid team. They execute really well, don’t make a lot of mistakes. So, when we make a mistake, they generally pounce on it. So, you really want to speed them up a little bit. We had fair success. I think sometimes we had some decent shots, sometimes we turned over the ball as well. So, it was a mixed bag in terms of that.”

Mykola Ediger lit it up in the third quarter, going for 12 points, draining two 3-pointers in the period. The Cougars shot 51.9% as a team. Mykola Ediger added a game-high five assists, along with five rebounds and two steals.

“I had confidence in my shot in the [third] quarter,” Mykola Ediger said. “Throughout the season, my shooting has been up and down. I think, the last couple games my shot has been on.”

“He’s really, really solid,” Yapinchay said. “It’s hard to match up. He’s got a nice package of size, a nice package of bulk and still be able to play around the perimeter. So, that’s a tough matchup with our small guys.”

Half Moon Bay’s bench accounted for 22 points, including 7 from freshman Drew Dorwin and 5 from junior Sean Kennedy.

Mykola Ediger was happy to watch the Cougars unload their bench in the fourth quarter, whilst gearing up for Friday’s big 7:45 p.m. showdown at Jefferson.

“We’ve got a pretty big game on Friday,” Mykola Ediger said. “So, I think our coach, John, kind of wanted to save my legs a little bit and rest up.”