BOYS BASKETBALL: Pinewood Flies Past Lincoln

After winning a Central Coast Section title last spring, the Pinewood School-Los Altos Hills boys basketball team is back to its winning ways to begin the 2011-12 season.

The scary news for the rest of the Panthers foes in the section and the West Bay Athletic League—this edition may be even deeper than last season’s championship bunch.

Led by star senior Solomone Wolfgramm, Pinewood jetted past Lincoln High-San Jose 79-57 Friday night in Los Altos Hills.

Wolfgramm scored a game-high 23 points—13 of which came in the second half—to help to his team improve to 8-1 overall.

Ahead by just three at the half, Pinewood ramped up the tempo on both ends of the floor, causing major headaches for the upset-minded Lincoln team.

“In the beginning of the game, we just didn’t want it as much as they did,” Wolfgramm said. “We just had to refocus and play our game. This year we’re even closer as a group. We really love to pass the ball to each other and play together. It showed in the second half.”

A 12-3 run by the Panthers keyed the second half surge by the home team. One of two birthday boys on the night, guard Dante Fraioli started the fun with a triple from the top of the arc.

Teammate Kevin Sweat followed suit with a 3-ball of his own, then received a nice dish from teammate Cameron Helvey inside and flipped in an easy one for two more points.

The score gave Pinewood a 43-35 lead and forced the first of two Lincoln timeouts in a 60-second span midway through the third quarter.

“I was a lot happier with the effort in the second half,” fourth year Pinewood head coach Jason Peery said after the home win. “This team is a little deeper than last year. We don’t have as much size, but there’s a lot more speed and depth. We’re at a good spot right now, just need to stay humble and hungry going forward.”

Up 10 after three, the lid came off in the final stanza. Always looking to push the pace regardless, a handful of Lions turnovers at midcourt put the ball in the hands of the feisty Panthers defenders and they made the most of their acquisitions.

Nathan Brown, Wolfgramm, Sweat and Fraioli all scored off turnovers in the final five minutes of play.

Mix in some relentless defensive pressure from Bradley Naumann and John Bennett, and the once evenly-matched affair was a thing of the past. Pinewood outscored Lincoln by 19 points in the second half en route to the comfortable victory.

The defending Division V champs already have preseason wins in the Redwood Classic Tournament and a gutty 22-point comeback victory in the McMillan Holiday Invitational.

The Panthers took their first lead of the game with only six seconds left to go in last week’s McMillian tournament matchup.

“These guys might want to look ahead, but we’re just going to try and focus on doing the best job we can in our league first,” Peery said.

League play begins on Jan. 6 at Crystal Springs Uplands in Hillsborough.