Young Panthers’ squad CCS bound

After a rough start to season that saw the Panthers go 3-8 in non-league play — and not even looking competitive in many of those losses — finishing with a .500 record in PAL South play essentially became the only way for the Panthers to qualify for the postseason.

“The beginning of the season was tough,” Dowd said.

It came down to the last game of the regular season, but with Friday’s 38-30 win over rival San Mateo, the Panthers punched their ticket to the playoffs as the win evened their league mark at 6-6.

“Super excited,” Dowd said. “Just so proud of these guys.”

In order to get to CCS, however, Burlingame (6-6 PAL South, 10-14 overall) had a figure out a way to slow down the PAL’s leading scorer in San Mateo’s Ryan Miles-Ferguson, who came into the game averaging more than 23 points per game.

Mission accomplished. Miles-Ferguson was held to less than half his season average as Burlingame held him to just eight points for the game. He managed only one 3-pointer in the second quarter and he added five more points in the fourth.

“Our whole team committed to stopping him,” Dowd said. “We said we wanted anyone else but him to beat us.”

It was San Mateo (2-10, 7-17) that got off to a quick start as the Bearcats built a 10-4 lead after one quarter. Trey Abello opened the scoring for the Bearcats by burying a 3-pointer. After Burlingame’s Will Uhrich, a freshman, scored on a putback, San Mateo’s Aiden Nolet drained a 3 of his own to spark a quick 7-0 run. Jackson Chew followed that with a steal and layup and Jason Wu finished around the basket after taking a pass from Chew off of dribble penetration.

Burlingame’s Jacob Yamagishi, another freshman, rounded out the scoring in the first period with a layup. The Panthers kept the momentum to start the second, getting back-to-back buckets from junior Nikola Kovacevic, a 3, and a layup from Tyler Mausenhund, also a freshman, to cut the San Mateo lead to just one, 10-9, with 6:21 left in the first half.

San Mateo gave itself some breathing room with a basket off the bounce from Chew and a banked in 3 from Miles-Ferguson to give the Bearcats a 15-9 lead with 4:44 left in the second period.

It would be the last points of the half for the Bearcats as Burlingame closed the quarter on a 11-0 run. Louis Martineau, yet another freshman, buried back-to-back 3s to tie the game at 15 for the Panthers, Taylor Clark, a junior center, converted a three-point played and Mausenhund capped the first half with a 3 to give Burlingame a 21-15 advantage at the half.

The game bogged down in the third period as the teams combined to score nine points. San Mateo hit back-to-back 3s by Chew and Nolet to open the quarter to tie the game at 21, but Uhrich’s 3 with under two minutes left in the quarter — and the Burlingame’s only points of the period — to give the Panthers the lead for good, 24-21.

Burlingame made only three field goals in the fourth period, but kept its lead by making its free throws. Sean Richardson, the fifth freshman who sees regular playing time, scored six points — all of free throws, all in the final 3:37 of the game — as the Panthers held off the Bearcats down the stretch.

“I just thought our kids battled,” Dowd said.