Panthers pull away for win

The game was close throughout the first half, with Burlingame holding a three-point lead at halftime. But the Panthers took control in the third quarter as Hillsdale could not keep up as Burlingame pulled away for a 75-54 win.

Hillsdale simply could not keep up with Burlingame’s 3-point shooting. It’s hard to stay in the game trading 2s for 3s, but the Panthers found the range early and were even better in the second half. Burlingame finished with 14 3s for the game — six in the first half and eight more in the second — with Jean-Luc Uharriet accounting for more than half of them. The senior guard made six of his eight 3s in the first half as he went off for 30 points.

His 11 field goals was three off the second-best effort in tournament history, with three others having made 14 field goals. Someone is going to have to do something special to top Riordan’s Dior Lowhorn, who made 23 field goals in one game during the 2002 tournament.

But Uharriet was hardly alone. Sophomore Lucca Maher added 15 as nine Panthers got in the scoring column.

Hillsdale had three players score in double figures, led by Freeman Lane, who scored nine of team-high 18 points in the first quarter. Sebastian Avina then took over in the second quarter, scoring eight of his 14 points. Tiago Fontes rounded out the trio, finishing with 10 points.

While the final score looks lopsided, Hillsdale was certainly in the game in the first two quarters. After a slow start, the Knights found a rhythm, turning a 10-9 deficit into a 20-17 lead after the first quarter. A Callum North baseline, fadeaway jumper gave the Knights an 11-10 lead and they closed on a 6-2 run.

After Fontes opened the second period with a layup, Burlingame got a spinning jumper form Maher and a 3-ball from Uharriet off an inbounds pass to tie the game at 22. Hillsdale regained the lead on a three-point play from North, who used a pump fake to get his defender in the air before finishing and converting the and-1.

But Burlingame responded with a run that would get the Panthers the lead by halftime. A Max Robenalt 3-pointer kicked off a 15-6 spurt that turned that 28-25 deficit into a 37-32 lead and the Panthers led 39-36 at halftime.

And then they put the Knights away in the third quarter, as Burlingame outscored Hillsdale 23-8.

But when Diaz hit a layup with 6:27 left in the third, Hillsdale was down just one, 41-40. Burlingame responded with another big run, outscoring the Knights 15-1. When Maher knocked down his his second 3 of the game, it put the Panthers up 57-41. When Rowan Maher came up with a steal and dunk, the Panthers led 62-44 going into the fourth.

Hillsdale put together a little run over the final eight minutes, outscoring the Panthers 8-3 to open the quarter and cut the lead to 13, 65-52. But Uharriet doused any hopes of a Hillsdale comeback by nailing his seventh 3 of the night and it was only appropriate that the final bucket of the night — for either team — was Uharriet’s eighth 3-ball.

Burlingame’s 75 points was the most points scored in the first round of a tournament that is pretty well stacked. Six of the eight teams in the field made it to at least the semifinals of the various Central Coast Section brackets last season, with Valley Christian making an Open Division appearance.

Burlingame head coach David Lopez, who brought in the teams, many of which are multiple time participants in the tournament, said that many were intrigued to check out the Panthers new gym complex, that opened this past fall after a nearly three-year construction period.

“We’re in a new facility and we wanted to be sure we could get as many quality opponents as we could,” Lopez said. “I feel like the gym was the selling point. We had to turn down some schools.”

Second-round action resumes Thursday after a day off Wednesday. In one of the semifinal matchups, Sacred Heart Prep (3-0) and Valley Christian (3-0) will meet at 6:30 p.m. Host Burlingame (4-1) will take on Palo Alto (4-0) at 8 p.m.

In one consolation bracket semifinal, Half Moon Bay (1-2) and Priory (5-1) will meet at 3:30 p.m., while Leigh (1-3) and Hillsdale (1-2) will tip off at 5 p.m.