By Pete Borello

R. Alan Hwang/Special to the Town Crier Pinewood’s Tyler Mosher fires up a 3-pointer in Friday’s win over Bentley. The senior made six treys and finished with 20 points.

This season of giving extended to the basketball court Friday night in Los Altos Hills. Bentley High gave the Pinewood School boys team open 3-point shots by playing zone defense, filling the Panthers with cheer.

“As I’ve told the guys: I’m going to smile if teams play zone,” Pinewood coach Andrew Slayton said after his squad’s 53-34 non-league win, “because we can shoot.”

The host Panthers connected on 11 of their 25 shots from 3-point range. Guard Tyler Mosher went 6-for-11 on treys and finished with a game-high 20 points.

“He’s a pure shooter,” Slayton said of the senior. “When he’s feeling it, we definitely have a lot of confidence that they’re going in.”

Pinewood also received 14 points from forward Michel Nofal and eight from guard Connor Whitlock. Both players hit a pair of 3-pointers. The Panthers’ other 3 came from point guard Johnny Capin, who just beat the shot clock early in the third quarter to sink his only shot of the game.

Pinewood (3-0) pulled away in the third, outscoring Bentley 18-7. Mosher tallied nine points in the period, nailing a trio of treys from the right corner. The Panthers led 45-22 at quarter’s end.

A minute into the fourth, Pinewood pushed its advantage to a game-best 29 points when Whitlock buried a 3.

Bentley’s only lead of the night came at 3-0.

Beyond the bus ride from Lafayette, Bentley (1-1) did little driving Friday, opting instead for 3-pointers. Nearly half the shots taken by the Phoenix (yes, that’s the school mascot) came from beyond the arc, but only five of the 20 attempts went in.

Slayton attributed many of those misses to Pinewood’s defense. He noted that the Panthers allowed just 30 points in their previous game and 18 in the season opener.

“Our goal is to hold teams to under 30 points,” the coach said.

Pinewood is scheduled to open Private Schools Athletic League play at 6 p.m. Friday at Redwood Christian.

In other boys basketball action last week:

• St. Francis captured the Santa Cruz Dad’s Tournament in decisive fashion, beating Harbor 79-46 in Saturday’s title game. Shawn Grant scored 20 points to lead the Lancers (4-0).

• Mountain View fell 49-46 to Sequoia Thursday in the consolation semifinal of the Burlingame Lions Club Tournament. Jesse Griffin’s 10 points paced the Spartans (5-4).

Girls basketball

Emily Lippe finished with 12 points to top Los Altos.

Mountain View lost 60-42 to Westmoor in the semifinals of the Terra Nova Tiger Invitational Friday. Aly Greenberg and Laura Brigham scored 17 and 10 points, respectively, for the Spartans, who sunk to 6-2.

Pinewood took home the consolation championship at the Notre Dame-Belmont Holiday Classic with a 45-41 win over Leland Saturday. Sami Field-Polisso scored 16 points for the Panthers.

After an 0-4 start to the season, Los Altos earned a win and a tie last week in the Homestead Christmas Cup. The Eagles beat Fremont 4-1 Thursday and tied Pajaro Valley 2-2 Saturday. Danny Koehler scored five of Los Altos’ goals and Sam Vesuna one.