After staging a comeback that had them taking a seven-point lead late in the fourth quarter, the Menlo boys’ basketball team lost a heartbreaker 62-61 to Natomas in a CIF-Div. IV NorCal opener Tuesday in Sacramento.
The No. 15-seeded Knights nearly overturned the fourth seeded Nighthawks, who were never out of reach but had taken a 15-8 first-quarter lead. Menlo picked up speed to trail by one at the half.
Julian Brooks sank a 3 - one of his four for the night - on an Adam Karr assist and the Knights went ahead 53-50 with 5:30 left. Menlo stretched its lead to 57-50 on Tate Cohen’s basket. The Nighthawks again would tie the score at 61 with :06.5 left before making its second free throw for the final score.
For Menlo, senior Julian Brooks poured in 20 points, and sank four threes. Junior Tate Cohen scored 19 and senior Sam Reznik added 10.
For Natomas: Darius Hemingway had a team-high 14 points