Menlo’s varsity boys basketball team fell to Menlo-Atherton 66-52 on Thursday, Dec. 21 at home. The Bears claimed the first point of the game, and the teams went back and forth in the first quarter, ultimately concluding with the Bears ahead 19-17. The Bears pulled away in the second quarter with a 39-23 lead. However, Menlo led 29-27 in the second half. With under two minutes left in the game, M-A senior Jack Anderson was going for a layup when senior Jake Abrams went up to defend him. Anderson fell, riling up some of Anderson’s M-A teammates. Technical fouls were given to Abrams and two M-A players. Junior Tate Cohen was sent out to take the free throws for Menlo and made all but one of them. Despite numerous free throw attempts, the Knights were not able to make up the deficit, and the Bears, continuing their undefeated 8-0 record for the season, won the game, while the Knights moved to 4-3.
Cohen led the Knights in scoring with 27 points and five rebounds. Senior Julian Brooks also had five rebounds and senior Sam Reznik added six points, three rebounds and three steals. Cohen believes the team did not give up in their effort against the Bears. “I thought we competed really hard. We fought to the very end even though we were down by a lot,” Cohen said. He believes their shooting needs improvement and they could have brought more energy into the second quarter where they went down by 16 points. “We just need to maintain the intensity and energy.” The boys played in the St. Francis Holiday Hoopfest from Dec. 26 to Dec. 29 in La Cañada, CA, finishing with two wins and two losses. Cohen was named to the All-Tournament Team.
