Gators rounding into form

“The film that I’ve seen of them, they looked pretty good,” Martinelli said.

Hard to argue that point. The Vikings came into the first-round game of the tournament 2-0, having notched impressive wins over Pacific Grove and Sequoia. SHP, on the other hand, was blasted by state power Riordan in the Gators’ season opener, 75-25, followed by a 63-38 thumping at the hands of St. Ignatius.

But SHP picked up its first win of the season, with Alex Straser hitting a game-winning shot to lift the Gators over Carlmont, 47-46.

But as Martinelli said, “You can never read too much into preseason.”

Wednesday’s game was one of teams moving in opposite directions. SHP was gaining 6-6 senior center Matt Norris from the football team, while Palo Alto was without senior guard Gavin Haase.

Both of those developments made a difference.

Without Haase, Palo Alto (2-1) was heavily reliant on senior guard Jorell Clark, through no fault of his own. The rest of the Vikings seemed reluctant to shoot, forcing Clark into a team-high, 13-point night.

Martinelli said in film he watched, Clark was more facilitator than scorer.

“He would dribble penetrate and dish,” Martinelli said. “He is such a handful.”

And it was Clark that helped Palo Alto to an early, first-quarter lead, before SHP (2-2) scored the final four points for a 10-8 lead after the opening period.

It was just a precursor to the Gators taking control of the game. Straser opened the second period with a rise-up jumper, which was answered by a Clark 3.

But SHP came back with a 15-2 run, sparked by Straser, who scored 10 of his game- and season-high of 17 points in the period. The senior guard knocked down a corner 3 to put the Gators up 16-11 as he appears to be the heir apparent to a string of Gator shooting guards — TJ O’Brien (2024 WBAL MVP) and Aidan Braccia (2022 WBAL MVP) — who can light it up.

“He’s super consistent,” Martinelli said of Straser, who is a three-year varsity player. “He’s gotten better every year. … Eighty-five percent of our offense (from last year) left. … He knew volumes of shots would come his way (this year).”

But it was the Gators depth that was on display during the run as five different players scored. Luca De bernardis, a senior wing, used a baseline power move for a layup, before junior forward Oliver Marcin got the ball on the low block and powered his way up for a bucket.

Marcin, a three-year varsity basketball player, was recently named the Central Coast Section Water Polo Player of the Year.

Who knew he could hoop?

“Basketball was so natural for him. He’s so big and strong,” Martinelli said. “When he was coming up, he was playing two years ahead (in youth basketball). People thought he was in high school when was coming into seventh grade.

“But you see what he can do in the pool. We’re just grateful for whatever we can get from him.”

Wednesday, that was 2 points and 5 rebounds.

Straser connected on three free throws followed by a traditional 3 from Damon Coakley and the Gators were up 26-13 with 2:37 left in the first half.

Coakley finished the game with 11 points, knocking down a trio of 3s along the way.

SHP’s shooting was on fire in that second period, as the Gators outscored the Vikings 22-7 as they hit on 7 of 10 shots.

And just before halftime, Norris finally knocked the rust off. He started the game, but didn’t show a lot, so Martinelli gave him a quick hook.

“He started really slowly. … He looked tired,” Martinelli said. “His second run was excellent.”

And that started just before halftime when Norris received the ball in the paint and used some nifty — and deft — footwork to get to a scooping layup around the defender to give SHP a 32-15 lead at halftime.

Norris got more confident in the third quarter as he put on a bit of show, giving Gator Nation a taste of potential things to come. To show his range, Norris stepped out behind the arc and drained a 3-pointer to open the the third-quarter scoring. That was followed by a baseline dunk and another two-hand jam off the fastbreak to end another strong period.

SHP followed up that 22-points second quarter with 15 in the third.

Up 47-24 going into the fourth, Martinelli kept only a few starters in for a few minutes before turning the game over to the bench.

The Gators should be nice and warmed up now and they’ll need to be because up next in a semifinal matchup against Half Moon Bay at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

HMB (3-1), which is expected to contend for the newly recreated Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division, rolled to a 58-33 win over Stuart Hall in the first game of the Burlingame Lions Club Tournament. The Cougars led just 26-22 at halftime, but outscored The Hall (6-3) 20-3 in the third quarter to take control.

The Cougars were led by junior wing Gio Garduno Martin, who finished with 17 points and 7 rebounds. Daniel Moctezuma and Levi Meighen each added 9 points.

Stuart Hall got 6 points each from William Malko and Napoleon Cabading.

In Wednesday’s third game, Priory advanced to the tournament semifinals following a 66-43 win over Burlingame. Priory will take on the winner of the night’s final game between Hillsdale and Westmoor at 8 p.m. Thursday.

The Panthers will play the loser of that game at 5 p.m.