Cold shooting dooms Bears

Because as much as basketball experts tout the intangibles — rebounding, taking care of the ball — as being the key to winning games, the Bears failed in the most basic tenet of the game: putting the ball through the basket.

M-A did a lot right in their 58-43 loss to Lynbrook in the semifinals of the Coaches vs Cancer tournament. The Bears barely won the rebounding battle, 31-30, but nearly half of their boards, 14, were offensive rebounds.

The Bears also did a decent job of taking care of the ball, turning the ball over a handful of times, although Lynbrook did come up with 10 steals. M-A offset that number, however, with 11 steals of its own.

But the Bears’ inability to score consistently, coupled with the Vikings’ scorching shooting percentage, turned into a blowout loss for the second time in three games for M-A. The Bears dropped their PAL South Division opener to Sequoia 42-16 Dec. 20.

The Bears shot just 22 percent from the field against Lynbrook, hitting on just 15 of 66 shot attempts. They were actually better in the second half as they converted 10 of 30, but we just 5 for 36 (13 percent) in the first two quarters.

The Vikings, on the other hand, couldn’t seem to miss, especially in the first period. Lynbrook scored 22 first-quarter points, hitting their first nine shots of the game as it bolted out to an 18-2 lead with 4:21 left in the opening quarter.

It was hard to miss for the Vikings, considering nearly all their shots came within two feet of the basket. Of their 18 first-half field goals, 15 of them were layups.

In the first eight minutes, the Vikings hit on 73 percent of their shots — 11 for 15. Lynbrook scored the first eight points of the game before Erica Fischer finally broke the seal for the Bears on a layup at the 6:19 mark of the first quarter.

Lynbrook responded with a 12-0 run, beating a path to the basket for layups on every one of their field goals.

Fischer, one of only two seniors on the team, stopped the run with her second bucket of the quarter as the Bears trailed 22-4 after one.

The Vikings cooled off in the second quarter, shooting “only” 54 percent as the Vikings built a 38-15 lead at halftime, shooting 18 for 28 from the floor (64 percent) for the half.

Throw out the first quarter and the Bears were competitive with the Vikings. Lynbrook outscored M-A 16-11 in the second quarter, but the Bears came back in the second half with 28 points, compared to 20 for the Vikings.

Despite M-A’s youth, it appears to have a solid player in sophomore guard Malia Latu. After scoring 17 in a 42-40 win over University in the first round Thursday, scored a game-high 20 points Friday against Lynbrook. After going scoreless in the opening quarter, she nailed a pair of 3-pointers in the second. She had a pair of buckets in the third period — one coming on a put-back and the second on a drive to the hoop. She finished with flourish, scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter, the best of the night for the Bears, who scored 18 points over the final eight minutes.

Latu was the only M-A player to score in double figures. Fischer added nine for the Bears.

Lynbrook was led by a pair of sophomore guards. Lydian Li and Sara Ho shared team-high scoring honors with 16 points apiece. Kavitha Thirumaran added 10 for the Vikings.