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Alameda High School's men's basketball team came up just short in their 52-50 defeat to De Anza High School of Richmond last Friday at the Hornet's Nest.

The hundreds in attendance were treated to an entertaining contest that went down to the buzzer.

Zac Alfers made a 3-pointer with 2:42 left in the first quarter to give Alameda a 9-7 lead. De Anza's Craig Salmond broke an 11-11 tie minutes later after he stole a pass and drove down the court for an easy lay-up. The De Anza Dons led 13-11 entering the second quarter.

With Alameda up 15-14 early in the second quarter, De Anza went on a 14-0 run that included two uncontested lay-ups by forward Christian Robinson. The Dons held Alameda scoreless for more than four minutes.

"They upped their pressure," said Alameda High assistant coach Andy Olveira. "Their defense played hard and our kids lost their heads for a moment."

A short 2-pointer from Salmond gave the Dons a 36-21 lead, their largest of the game. The Dons led 36-23 at halftime.

"At halftime, no one's head was down," said Olveira. "We just told the guys 'let's hang our hats on defense in the second half.'"

The Hornets did hang their hats on defense, holding the Dons to just eight third-quarter points. The Hornets held the Dons in check by switching from their man-to-man defense to a 1-3-1 zone defense.

The Hornets scored 15 points in the third including a 9-0 run capped by a basket in the paint by Sam Kunz.

The Dons' 13-point halftime lead evaporated to just six, 44-38, at the end of the third quarter.

"I knew our guys were going to fight back," said Olveira. "They always fight hard. We just knew if we execute the way we know how, we would get back in the game."

De Anza's Myles Gatson made a short jumper to stretch their lead to 52-44 midway through the fourth quarter, but it was the Dons' last points of the game.

After a 2-pointer from Linh closed the gap to 52-48, Alameda's crowd came to life. Alfers scored on an uncontested lay-up to close the gap to 52-50 with 2:52 to play. That's when both teams' offenses fizzled.

With 17 seconds left in the game, Alameda fouled Anthony Kvasnicka. Kvasnicka missed the free throw and the Hornets raced down the court.

Alfers shot a 3-pointer that missed, but was rebounded by Kunz, but his put-back was blocked by Gatson out of bounds with four seconds left. The ball was in-bounded to Alameda's Elvedin Tudzinovic who attempted a 3- pointer, but air-balled and it was rebounded again by Kunz, but Gatson blocked Kunz's put-back again as time expired.

The loss brings Alameda overall record to 8-7 and the league record to 0-2.