Bearcats open with win

After leaving South City, Petiti spent 12 years coaching at King’s Academy where he became the school’s all-time winningest coach.

Now, he’s starting over again with a young, relatively inexperienced Bearcats squad and before the reunion at South City, he picked up his first win as San Mateo’s new coach, as the Bearcats opened the season with a 72-45 win over visiting James Lick-San Jose.

“I saw some good things,” Petiti said. “I wanted to see what [the team] could do. It’s like a test. How do they react to situations?”

The good news for Petiti, who took the position with the Bearcats at the beginning of August, was that he got his entire team into the game. Even better, he has the makings of a star in Ryan Miles-Ferguson. The senior combo guard put his name on the map early in the season as he exploded for 34 points in a little less than three quarters of play.

“I had heard about him,” Petiti said. “He’s very coachable, very explosive.”

Miles-Ferguson showed an all-around game as he scored in a variety of ways. His first points of the night came when he knocked down a 3-pointer, was fouled and hit the free throw for a rare four-point play. He added a second 3-pointer minutes later, taking an inbound pass and, falling to his right, ripped the net to put the Bearcats up 14-5.

Miles-Ferguson appears to be at his best, however, when he puts the ball on the floor. He blew past the Comets with his dribble, getting to the rim when he wanted. He also showed some grit and toughness in grabbing six rebounds, including a pair of offensive boards. And just to cap off his night, he went 6 for 7 from the line.

Miles-Ferguson scored 14 of the Bearcats’ 23 first-quarter points, added 12 more in the second and 10 in the third before taking a seat for the final nine minutes of the game. About the only thing that went wrong was a missed dunk on a breakaway in the second quarter.

“I don’t think he’s tapped into his potential,” Petiti said. “He won’t be under the radar.”

But San Mateo showed it wasn’t just a one-man show. Trey Abello, another combo guard, finished with 15 points, knocking down a trio of 3-pointers. Jackson Chew added eight points, while Jason Wu finished with six points, converting all three of his shots and adding four rebounds.

“[Wu] was pretty good,” Petiti said. “He was really getting after it.”

San Mateo (1-0) got off to a hot start, hitting on their first five shots as they built a quick 14-5 lead. The Bearcats then closed the quarter on a 9-4 run to lead by 12, 23-11, after one period.

In the second quarter, the game got a little frenetic as the teams combined for 37 points. San Mateo turned up the heat defensively with their press defense, which led to a number of turnovers and fastbreak opportunities.

“We’re trying to play like,” Petiti said. “Pressing, creating turnovers.”

The Comets stayed close during the first few minutes of the second quarter, closing 30-20 following a 3-pointer with 4:13 left in the first half. But the Bearcats, behind Miles-Ferguson, went on a 12-2 run to take control of the game, leading by 20, 42-22, with 2:29 left in the second.

The Bearcats used 10-2 run to open the third and then it was time for Petiti to get the rest of his bench into the game to see what they could do.

“Offensively … we moved the ball well, attacked well,” Petiti said.