Atherton, CA:

The Oaks could not turn a red hot start into a nice finish tonight inside Haynes Prim.  The visiting Warriors from William Jessup found a way to overcome an early double digit deficit to pull through with a 70-52 victory to improve to 5-3 in the Cal Pac.  With the loss Menlo falls to 3-5 in conference with an overall mark of 5-19. 

Menlo came out of the gates on an absolute tear.  Three early treys, two from ChaRunn Jones, helped spur the Oaks to a 17-4 advantage inside the game's first six and a half minutes.  Haynes Prim was a rocking and a rolling after senior Abram Dukes finished a fast break, forcing Jessup to take a timeout down by the 13-point margin. 

Before neither team had time to digest what had just happened, the Warriors were already well on their way to a comeback.  Strong first half play by Jessup's Jordan Wilson helped WJU to an overwhelming 27-8 run to give the Warriors their largest lead of the first period, 31-25 with only 48 seconds left.  Wilson finished the first 20 minutes with a half high 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the floor.  Menlo's aforementioned ChaRunn Jones did hit a three in the Oaks final possession of the first half, cutting the deficit to 31-28, but the momentum was clearly with Jessup. 

The Warriors took their final first half surge and opened the second stanza red hot.  Jessup rolled to a 13-3 run within the first four and a half minutes to take a 44-31 lead, essentially burying the Oaks chances for a comeback.  Menlo was never able to bring the deficit within single digits, before going down by the eventual final of 70-52. 

ChaRunn Jones ended his evening with a game high 21 points, including knocking down five from downtown.  Senior guard Alexander Engel put together a solid performance as well, eclipsing the double digit mark with ten points.  As far as the Warriors were concerned, three players had at least 13 points with Wilson earning a team high 19, senior Marqus Crawford added 18, and fellow senior Anthony Anderson chipped in with 13. 

The Oaks will look to bounce back with a quick turnaround looming.  Menlo gets set to travel to Pacific Union this Saturday, February 4^th to take on the Pioneers.  Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30pm.