The 2009-2010 Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) season has been a story of two halves for the Tamalpais High boys varsity basketball team (3-5). With the exception of their losses to Terra Linda and Redwood, the Hawks have gone into halftime with the lead,  only to come out of locker room lacking intensity in the third and fourth quarters.

     “We play as a very inspired team out of the gate, but tend to settle in the second half,” said coach Alex Pribble. “We’re working on being the best group of guys we can for all four quarters. In the game against Drake we were up three at half time and went on to win.”
     “Throughout the year we have seen glimpses of our potential, but haven’t managed to put together into a full game. One of our goals is to play all 32 minutes as well as we know we can,” said senior Stewart Gruen.   
     On January 26, the Hawks faced off against first place Redwood. Senior Mitch Abramson set the tempo for the Hawks as he sank a three from the right corner on Tam’s first possession. Tam was able to hang with Redwood for the first quarter. However the second quarter proved more difficult as they struggled to score in the paint against the taller Redwood squad. The Hawks went into halftime down 17. The Hawks came out strong to start the third quarter, going on a 7-0 run to bring the game within 10 and for a moment it seemed that a win was possible. That feeling only lasted for a moment; Redwood managed to stretch their lead back to 23 points and ultimetly defeated the Hawks 59-43. Tam was without their leading scorer, Tomer Sabo, who is currently eighth in voting for league MVP and also a reporter for The Tam News.
     “We played really hard and were able to run with them for parts of the game,” said junior Peter Malmquist. Malmquist also cited Tam’s inability to put together 32 solid minutes as a key reason for the loss.
     While Tam was unable to overcome the height deficit against Redwood, they were able to against Drake in a 36-32 victory at Tam on January 22 through a well rounded team effort.
     “We have to do all the little things in order to win to win the basketball game. We don’t have that guy who can go out and give us 20 points so we all need to be on the floor giving it our all,” said senior Jackson Palmer.
     The Hawks visited Justin Siena in what was supposed to be easy victory on January 19. However things did not go as expected, the Hawks went into halftime up by four, only to go on to lose by nine.
     Tam faced off against the Terra Linda Trojans in what would be their toughest competition to date on January 15. The Trojans did not disappoint as they cruised to a 61-44 victory. Tam did not find their rhythm until the fourth quarter where they outscored the Trojans by 10, but by then it was too late and their fate had been sealed.
     On January 12, the Hawks defeated the Marin Catholic Wildcats, 50-46 at home. Despite being down eight after the first quarter, the Hawks fought back to go into halftime up by one. After going back and fourth for all of the third quarter junior Frankie Stornaiuolo hit several clutch shots down the strecth to secure the victory against his former team.
     “When everyone buys into what we are doing and trusts the system in place we play well and get wins. It showed tonight,” said senior Mitch Abramson.
Tam lost to Branson 52-48 on January 8 and to Novato 51-39 on January 5.
     “We lost both games in the third quarter, after halftime we just come out flat. We led Branson by nine at halftime, and lost. And allowed Novato to score 25 in the third quarter,” said Abramson.

This article originally appeared in the February 2010 issue.