Valley too much for Panthers

Easier said than done. The Warriors beat the Panthers in all three of those phases as the Valley added Burlingame to its list of dominating performances as the Warriors beat the Panthers 68-45 in the championship game of the 48th annual Burlingame Lions Club Invitational tournament in Burlingame Friday night.

It’s the first Burlingame Lions Club title for the Warriors, who have participated in the tournament several times over the years.

“Their physicality beat us up,” Lopez said of Valley.

The championship game ended a series of four games at the tournament Friday, three of which were blowouts. In the seventh-place game, Half Moon Bay (2-3) beat Hillsdale (1-4), 58-39. In the fifth-place game, Priory (7-1) topped Leigh (2-4), 65-43.

The third-place game was the only that was relatively close, as Palo Alto (5-1) held on for a 62-54 win over Sacred Heart Prep (3-2).

Valley Christian (5-0) did to Burlingame (5-2) what it did to Priory in the first round and Sacred Heart Prep in the semifinals — overwhelm them. The Panthers managed to stay in the game for about a quarter-and-a-half before the Warriors’ superior athleticism and speed wore down Burlingame.

And Lopez should have added another point to his list: take and make shots. Again, easier said than done as the Panthers struggled to get clean looks against a swarming Valley defense. When Burlingame did manage to get off a shot, more often than not it was one and done as the Warriors controlled the boards, finishing with 29 compared to just 14 for the Panthers.

In the first half, Burlingame managed just five field goals as a team. The Warriors had four dunks in the first two quarters, on their way to seven for the game. For the game, Burlingame made just 11 field goals.

“They got out in transition and ran,” Lopez said. ““You can’t win when you turn the ball over so much.”

Both teams got off to a sloppy start in the first quarter as they combined for more turnovers (nine) than field goals made (eight). But the Warriors, in a sign of things to come, opened the scoring with a bang as tournament MVP Bryant Clark came up with a steal at halfcourt and raced to the other end for an emphatic dunk for the first bucket of the game.

But when Burlingame’s Jean-Luc Uharriet drilled a 3-pointer with 37 seconds left in the first period, it gave the Panthers a 9-8 advantage.

It would be their only lead of the night and it lasted all of 34 seconds as 6-9 center Teniola Bamisebi gave the Warriors a 10-9 lead at the end of the period, following a number of nifty post moves that resulted in a layup.

In the second quarter, however, the Warriors turned up their defensive pressure and rebounding, which translated into them taking complete control of the game. Valley opened the second quarter with a Jadon Shabaglian offensive rebound and putback, followed by a Bamisebi dunk off an assist from Bryant. That kicked off a 12-2 run and when Shabaglian came up with a steal and jam, the Warriors led 24-10 with 3:11 left in the first half. When Valley knocked down a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer, the Warriors were up 32-15.

“Their defense put us in uncomfortable positions,” Lopez said.

Bryant would finish with a game-high 16 points, while Bamisebi added 14 and Shabaglian 11.

It didn’t get much better in the second half for Burlingame. Lucca Maher — who was the only Panther to score in double figures, finishing with 14 — opened the scoring in the second half, but Valley responded with a 20-0 run, punctuated another Bryant steal and dunk as the Warriors opened up a 51-19 lead with 1:36 left in the third.

Maher wound up scoring all 10 of the Panthers’ points in the third quarter, but had only one field goal and went 6 for 8 from the free throw line.

The Warriors opened the fourth quarter with a 6-0 run to push its lead to 60-25 with 6:21 left to play and then it was time for both teams to clear their benches. Burlingame would go on to outscore Valley for the only quarter of the game, 20-15.

Despite the loss, Lopez feels good about his team and believes Friday’s game will only make the Panthers stronger. At the very least, they got a taste of West Catholic Athletic League basketball ahead of next Friday’s annual showdown with Serra.

“We return three players that were all-league (last year),” Lopez said. “I think we have a lot of potential … but have a lot of work to do.”

Palo Alto 62, Sacred Heart Prep 54

Without injured point guard Alex Osterloh, the Gators looked lost in the first half of the third-place game against the Vikings, as Palo Alto shot the lights out in the first two quarters as the Vikings built a 38-19 lead at halftime.

Palo Alto connected on 6 of 9 3-pointers in the first quarter and finished the first half 9 for 13 from behind the arc.

But the shooting dried up in the second half, allowing SHP to get back into the game. The Gators twice cut their deficit to single digits, they trailed by eight with a minute left in the third quarter and were down just five with 2:23 left to play.

But the Vikings did just enough down the stretch to take the win.

Palo Alto was led by Ben Laris, who scored 17 points, knocking down five 3s in the process. Gabe Andrade added two 3s and finished with 16 points, while Rocco Smith drilled three 3s on his way to 15 points.

SHP was led by Pat Bala, who finished with 14 points. Brady Grossman added 13 for the Gators.