Julio Lara/Daily Journal Burlingame's Will Dobson, center, goes up for two of his 14 points in the Panther's 41-31 win over Carlmont.

Well, this just in: the Panthers can play a little defense themselves.

Burlingame picked up the biggest win in the young PAL season thus far, taking down the Scots 41-31. Carlmont came into the game just one game behind the perfect 4-0 Panthers. But in limiting the Scots to single-digit scoring in quarters one through three and holding them to 31 percent shooting for the night, Burlingame's lead atop the standings is now slightly more comfortable.

"[This was a] big game,” said Panthers head coach Pete Harames. "I didn't want to do too much. We've been playing good defense all year. Defense, I thought, won the game. Offensively, we didn't hit shots and they took Nick Loew away. But he showed great poise. He was the man tonight.”

Loew was huge in that he led a Burlingame rebounding attack that saw the Panther out-board the Scots 36-19 for the game.

Loew scored just five points but picked up 11 rebounds.

"We had to use a different strategy,” said Carlmont head coach Dave Low. "We weren't going to run up and down the court and shoot quickly. We had to minimize their possessions as much as we could. That's why we only had 31 points. I don't think those guys knew, but I didn't think we would go head to head with them. I thought their size and their talent level was just too great for us. And that's why we had to come with a different strategy. It worked for most of the game. I would have been fine with 31 points if they had scored 30 but unfortunately they didn't. We were right there.”

Burlingame did the pulling away in the second half for the most part. Up until the 1:29 mark of the second quarter, the game was razor-thin close. No lead got above two points and at 16-16, it took a Loew driving layup and subsequent foul shot to give the Panthers a 19-16 advantage.

But that was the catalyst to a 7-0  run to close the quarter with Will Dobson's layup beating the buzzer giving Burlingame a 24-16 come recess.

"We didn't have our 3's going for us in the first half. We tried to get it inside,” said Dobson who scored eight of his game-high 14 points in the first half. "But, I mean, we were comfortable. We knew what we had to do if we wanted to win. I feel like we got a good win today.”

"He's a terrific offensive board guy,” Harames said of his forward. "He's our best offensive rebounder. And it showed tonight. And he finished tonight. That was the key.”

The Panthers increased the lead to 10 points right out of third quarter chute and kept it there come the start of the fourth quarter.

"I thought the strategy was fine,” Low said, "try to minimize their possessions. Try to really maximize our possessions and make everything count. It's hard for a team to kind of turn it on and turn it off and that's what we were trying to do in terms of playing a slow-down tempo.”

A Chris Graham basket to start the fourth period gave Burlingame its biggest lead of the game at 33-21. From there, Carlmont used some Yash Malik and Mdudzki Hlatshawyo offense to try and get back into the game and actually got it to within two possession with 1:48 left.

Still, Carlmont's comeback efforts had already taken a major blow when Michael Costello, who had 11 points and is considered one of Carlmont's main offensive weapons, went down with a foot injury.

"Coming in 4-0, everyone is gunning for you,” Dobson said. "So, you have to play hard every time. It's a good win. It's definitely a statement and we're going to keep going. I think staying together through the whole game, all the way to end and really finishing out with smart basketball [was the key]. And just listening to our coach.”

Dobson's 14 lead all Burlingame scorers. Grant Goodman scored eight big points off the bench for the Panthers.