Over by halftime

Woodside boys' basketball coach Mike Reynoso said illness has taken its toll this week on his squad. The Wildcats couldn't have felt much better after Hillsdale blitzed them in the first half on their way to a 57-42 win in the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division opener for both teams. "We're sick, but it's still no excuse," Reynoso said. "In the first half ... we just came out lazy. When we come out and play four quarters of basketball, we're tough to beat." That didn't happen Wednesday and Hillsdale (1-0 PAL Ocean, 10-5 overall) was the main reason why. The Knights came out flying and dominated the first half. They led 18-4 after the first quarter and 37-9 at halftime. They hit on 16 of 23 field goals in the first half, a 69.5 percent shooting clip. How dominant was Hillsdale in the first half? The Knights made more baskets (16) than Woodside took shots (14), most of them within 10 feet of the basket. For the game, Hillsdale shot 64 percent from the floor. The Knights' full-court press also took its toll on the Wildcats. Hillsdale forced 14 first-half Woodside turnovers -- five of which came as a direct result of the press -- and also came away with eight steals. "Sometimes that good defensive effort will fuel their confidence," said Hillsdale coach Brett Stevenson of his team. The Knights accomplished this without the services of Ethan Peper, one of their best players, who missed most of the game with a tweaked ankle. He did knock down Hillsdale's lone 3-pointer early in the game. Nick Eberle and Jovan Carter, however, stepped up to pick up the scoring slack. Carter scored all 10 of his points in the first half and Eberle scored a team-high 17 points -- nine in the first half and eight in the second. It was Eberle's baseline jumpers at the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second that really got him in a rhythm. In the second half, three of his four buckets were on layups as the Knights broke the Woodside press. "That's where he's going to get his shots," Stevenson said. "He shot really well in the shoot-around today so I thought he would have a big night." After sleepwalking through the first half, the Wildcats finally came alive in the third quarter, scoring 21 points on 9 of 16 shooting. Reynoso said the talk at halftime was to come out in the second half and leave everything on the floor. He knew his team would need a miracle to erase a 28-point deficit and barring that, he just wanted his team to play the game like he knows they can. "(The second half was all about) execution, energy, attitude," Reynoso said. "Playing with resolve." Jordan Rubin must have taken his coach's talk to heart as he was nearly unstoppable in the second half. After scoring just four points in the first half, he scored 13 in the second for a team-high 17 points. The Wildcats also got their full-court press rolling in the second half, forcing eight Hillsdale turnovers and coming away with five steals of their own. If we play as best we can and leave it all on the floor, that's all I can ask," Reynoso said. Stevenson said his team struggled to adjust to the Wildcats' tempo in the third quarter, but he was never really worried about the outcome. Woodside did manage to cut its deficit to 16 points on a Rubin bucket to start the fourth quarter, but the hole was too big for the Wildcats to climb out of. After their 21-point onslaught in the third quarter, Woodside came back to earth in the fourth, out-scoring the Knights by just three, 12-9. Stevenson said the basic strategy in the second half was to avoid injury, work the clock and get out with the win. "We knew it was a game of possessions at that point," Stevenson said. "As frantic as the play was (in the second half), there is a trust in our guys defensively. When we're fundamentally sound and get back, we're as defensive as anybody. That's our constant."