Strong Second Half Secures Win for Peninsula

There is no greater atmosphere in the Bay League than the battle on The Hill between and .

With two boisterous crowds cheering every possession, Tuesday night’s first half left fans cheering for mostly jump balls and the rare free throw make.

A combination of good defense and veritable lid on the basket played to visiting Palos Verdes High School's favor as the Sea Kings took a 21-18 lead into halftime.

“We were definitely confident going into halftime. Some things didn’t go our way in the second half, shots stopped falling and they are a good team and it showed,” Palos Verdes guard Robby Kolanz said.

The two teams combined to miss numerous layups and shoot a dismal 37 percent (10-27) from the line in the first half, but the Sea Kings were buoyed by forward Matt Costa’s nine first half points, including a bank shot in traffic that went without Costa being able to see the basket with three Panther defenders surrounding him.

“Sometimes we get stagnant offensively and we struggle to find good shots,” Palos Verdes Peninsula High School's head coach Jim Quick said.

The defending Bay League champion Panthers could not be contained in the second half as standout guard Sam Borst-Smith came out of the break like a house on fire with 21 second half points on his way to a game-high 27 in leading Peninsula (13-5, 2-1) to a 58-43 victory.

“My teammates set great picks and freed me up for some open shots and my confidence picked up after a couple of three,” Borst-Smith said.

Trailing 25-18 following a Nick Huebner layup, Borst-Smith went to work knocking down a pair of three-pointers and a nifty floater in the lane to begin what would be a 24-7 run to close out the third quarter and put Palos Verdes (6-13, 0-3) away for good in the final quarter for the ninth consecutive win over their crosstown rivals.

“It’s the best feeling, we have the best fans and there is nothing better than playing in front of that crowd with that support,” Borst-Smith said.

Borst-Smith made all four of his three-pointers in the second half and added six assists, six rebounds and five steals in a tremendous overall effort.

“Sam’s second half was a testament to us running our offense well and sharing the ball. Defensively, we did a great job, if we can’t score 50 points we don’t deserve to win,” Quick said.

Stanley Roberts and Matt McFarland joined Borst-Smith in double figures with 11 points each.

“Defensively, we played really well. We came out in the second half and knew we needed to play hard and make the most of the first four minutes of the half,” Roberts (six rebounds) said.

McFarland pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds and stifled Costa, limiting the Sea Kings leading scorer to just two points in the second half.

The Sea Kings' scoring load was evenly distributed between Costa’s 11 points, Thomas Good’s 10, Huebner added nine and Robby Kolanz finished with eight.

“I think we showed we can compete with them, we just need to put together an entire game. I’m very excited to play them again, it should be a fun game,” Kolanz said.

Palos Verdes will host Peninsula Feb. 3.