Eric Williams, the head basketball coach at San Mateo High School, knew that the Eastside Prep Panthers would pose a formidable challenge to his Bearcats.
The Panthers are a perennial Division 5 basketball power who have been one of the top teams in the Central Coast Section. Last year, the Panthers were one game away from the state championship and many basketball watchers believe they have the team to get them to the title game this year.
On New Years Day, the Panthers were sluggish, but showed the Bearcats why they are the team to beat on the Peninsula, as they comfortably won the game 53-41.
It was a game that the Bearcats could have won, but they seemed to be intimidated by the Panthers as they opened up a 7-0 lead in the first half. But the Bearcats battled back to make a game off it. In the first half of the game, Darryl Robinson led the Bearcats as he hit jump shots, scored on put backs and played with passion to keep the Bearcats in the game. At half-time, the Panthers only led 24-20 and it looked as if the Bearcats could get the upset.
The Bearcats are a young team led by the young junior duo of Darryl Robinson and Austin Anderson and at times it showed. While Robinson scored 10 points during the first half, Anderson didn't. He struggled with his shots and he seemed to play passive as he picked up three quick fouls which forced Coach Williams to sit him on the bench.
"I have got a lot of young guys on the team and I can accept the mistakes," said Coach Williams. "My job as a coach is to correct them."
Trailing by 4 points at half-time, it looked as if Williams corrected the mistakes as the Bearcats were able to close the gap to 2 points. But that is when the Panthers woke up and proceeded to go on a 8-point run to break the game wide open at the end of the third quarter. They took a commanding 20-point lead for most of the fourth quarter until the Bearcats closed the game with a 10-point run.
"We had a decent first half and after we got it down to 2 points, we did not finish the game out," said Williams. "I think that the guys were timid."
The timidness showed as Anderson, one of San Mateo's top players finished with 2 points. Robinson who had ten points in the first half finished with 14 points for the game. He said that his team has to play harder to win against the better teams.
"We made a lot of mental mistakes and we let them intimidate us," said Robinson.
Eastside Prep was led in scoring by Keith Garner with 14 points, Myron Jordan with 12 points and Stephen Walker with 8 points. Chris Bischof, the head coach of the Panthers, was just glad that this team came away with a win, considering how sloppy they played.
"We did not have the intensity that we usually have in the first half, but the guys got it going in the second half."
Bischof said that it was tough playing on Jan. 1, just two days after his team won the championship game at the Head Royce High small school tournament. But Bischof said that he was pleased with the win considering the circumstances. His Eastside Prep team has improved to 14-1 and they will face Oakland High School on Jan. 6. The Bearcats dropped to 8-3 and they will get ready for league play with a game against Westmoor on Saturday at San Mateo.
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