Hillsdale beats Burlingame at the buzzer

“[Clumeck] is one of the most athletic guys on the floor,” Manning-Laisne said. “We’ve been trying to get him to attack the rim more.”

Hillsdale (4-0) did on its last possession what Burlingame (4-1) could not — convert on a last-second shot. Less than 20 seconds before Clumeck’s game-winner, the Panthers were looking to ice the game. Like Hillsdale’s Hauser, Burlingame Zaden Martin, the Daily Journal’s reigning Athlete of the Week, got the ball on the wing and drove the basket.

Unlike his game-winner against Christopher in the championship game of the Westmont tournament last week, Martin did not come up with the big basket. Instead, his shot was blocked. Kyle Haslam was there for the rebound, but he was off-balance and hoisted a shot at the basket that only hit the side of the backboard, after which the shot clock expired, giving the ball back to Hillsdale to go for the win.

“I feel like there are a lot of things we could have done better,” Manning-Laisne said. “But we made plays down the stretch.”

Burlingame head coach Jeff Dowd felt the same way — his team left plenty of points out on the floor Tuesday night, especially at the free-throw line.

In the Panthers had just been bad at the charity stripe, they probably win the game going away. Instead, they were abysmal, converting on just 9-of-24 free-throw attempts.

With a chance to ice the game in the fourth quarter, Burlingame allowed Hillsdale to hang around as the Panthers hit on just 6-of-16 shots from the line, while hitting just 2-of-4 field goal attempts.

“Turnovers and free throws and end-of-game execution — we need to get better at,” Dowd said. “We have to do a better job.”

Not surprisingly, the game had ebbs and flows between the Peninsula Athletic League South Division rivals. The Knights held a slim 22-21 lead at halftime, but the Panthers opened the third quarter by scoring the first seven points. Martin hit a layup, followed by a scoop to the hoop and a 3-pointer from MJ Dowd. When MJ Dowd connected on another 3 with 3:31 left in the third, Burlingame led 32-24.

MJ Dowd would finish with 11 points for Burlingame.

But the Panthers went 3:31 without a point and Hillsdale got back in the game with Hauser leading the charge. He scored all seven of the Knights’ points in the third and his turnaround, baseline jumper with 33 seconds left in the period cut the Hillsdale deficit to 32-29.

“He made plays for us tonight,” Manning-Laisne said of Hauser, who finished with a team-high 15 points.

Burlingame got a third 3-pointer from MJ Dowd to open the fourth and a Haslam wide open layup put the Panthers up 37-31 with just over six minutes to play.

But then the Panthers went ice cold at the line, allowing Hillsdale to make a final push. When Hauser knocked down his only 3-pointer of the game, it cut the Burlingame lead to just three, 36-33, with 3:39 to play.

Burlingame still led 42-36 with 2:29 to play, but managed only one more point the rest of the way.

Hillsdale, meanwhile, outscored the Panthers 8-1 down the stretch to pull out the win.

“The guys stayed believing,” Manning-Laisne said.

Hillsdale took an early lead to start the game, but the Panthers used a 7-0 run over the final 2:30 of the first quarter. Haslam accounted for all 7 points as he hit a hook in the paint, converted a three-point play and then tipped in an errant Martin shot to give the Panthers a 12-9 lead after one period.

Haslam finished with a game-high 16 points to go along with 12 rebounds.

In the second, Burlingame went more than six minutes without a point, while Hillsdale stayed in the game by connecting on 6-of-7 free throws as the Knights went into halftime up 22-21.

“That was crazy. … That was a good battle,” Coach Dowd said. “That was a tough one.”

With the win, Hillsdale moves into the tournament semifinals, where it will face Palo Alto at 8 p.m. Thursday. The Vikings beat Pioneer 60-49. The other semifinal features Woodside Priory against the winner of Half Moon Bay-St. Francis-La Cañada at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

Burlingame, on the other hand, falls into the loser’s bracket and will face Pioneer at 5 p.m. Thursday. The other consolation game will feature the HMB-St. Francis loser against Stuart Hall-SF at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.

The tournament wraps up Friday. Loser brackets games are scheduled for 3:30 and 5 p.m. The third-place game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the championship game at 8 p.m.