San Mateo plays spoiler

“It was more so derived from the first game,” San Mateo head coach Marvin Lui said. “They beat us pretty bad. That game we didn’t have Grant Wolfgram. I’ll be honest, I took that part, where they were celebrating like they won a league championship at our home game.”

With the win, Mateo (4-8 PAL Ocean, 11-13 overall) knocked the Fighting Knights out of first place, leaving another crosstown rival, Aragon, to win the PAL Ocean Division championship outright. The Knights and the Dons entered the day tied atop the league standings, and Aragon took care of business up Alameda de las Pulgas by claiming a 60-50 win over Mills.

For Lui and his Bearcats, the outcome was like exorcising their demons, haunting them since Hillsdale’s postgame celebration Jan. 23 in handing San Mateo a 52-27 walloping, a game Wolfgram missed out for nine games due to a knee injury.

“(They were) banging the lockers and hooting and hollering; and our locker room is directly across from each other,” Lui said. “So, spoilers? Whatever. We just wanted to play a complete game.”

Wolfgram was electric from the outset, connecting for a corner 3 for the first points of the night in just his third start since coming back from injury.

“The last two games, I’ve come out kind of slow,” Wolfgram said. “I think I’ve combined for two points the last two first halves. So, I was trying to get going a little earlier today. And, after that first 3-pointer, I kind of knew: ‘Oh, I’m feeling pretty good tonight.’”

The senior followed with a smooth pull-up jumper, fueling Mateo to an 8-0 start. The Bearcats went on to lead wire-to-wire, with Hillsdale never seeing a one-point margin again, the deficit to 5 late in the second quarter, but getting no closer.

“He just played great basketball,” Hillsdale head coach Deshawn Mitchell said. “It’s like, what are you going to do? I’m proud of that kid. He deserved this night. He was injured and he came back and put on a show.”

At the other end of the court, Hillsdale got off to a dreadful start. The Knights turned the ball over on each of their first four possessions, and coughed it up eight times in the first quarter.

“We’ve done it before,” Mitchell said. “Like I said, this team, we can be Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. So, we’ve done if before. But tonight was one of those nights I was hoping we wouldn’t see it. And hats off to them, they played great.”

The Knights (10-2, 13-11) didn’t go quietly, though. Hillsdale shot at a 37.5% clip throughout, but an abysmal 1 of 8 from the field in the opening period. In the second, junior Jonah Hernandez Berland came off the bench find the hot hand, knocking down a pair of 3s as Hillsdale shot 7 of 9 in the quarter, including 4 of 5 from long range.

Mateo went into the half leading 28-20, thanks to a reckless Hillsdale foul with a second to play in the half. The Knights worked the deficit to its slimmest margin at 25-20, but Wolfgram drew contact while looking to put up an off-balance prayer 3-pointer from up top. The red-hot senior knocked down three free throws to close the half.

Then Wolfgram caught fire to start the second, opening the half with a pull-up 14-footer. Senior guard Bryan Ehlerman followed with a transition layup off a steal from senior Dylan Chua. to make it 32-23. Later in the quarter, Wolfgram popped a wing 3, then scored a dribble-dive layup with a underhand lefty finish. Ehlerman then scored on a baseline route for a friendly assist toss from Wolfgram for a soft alley-oop layup.

“The first half, we did a pretty good job moving the ball,” Lui said. “The scoring was kind of spread out. And his usage rate is tough, because he’s still coming back from injury. But, yeah, that third quarter, and into the fourth, we definitely leaned on [Wolfgram] a lot.”

Hillsdale senior Freeman Lane heated up with a pair of free throws to end the third quarter, then scored 10 of his team-high 14 points in the fourth. Senior center Callum North added nine points and seven rebounds, as the Knights won the boards 29-20. Mateo shot 13 of 18 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, however, including a 11-of-12 clip by Wolfgram, to put the game away.

Hillsdale had won nine straight prior to Friday’s loss.

“It sucks but they played great,” Mitchell said. “If you’re going to lose, that’s how you lose.”