Flintridge Prep boys’, girls’ basketball prepare for revenge factor

Will two weeks prove enough time to cool the desire for revenge?

That’s the question facing the Flintridge Prep boys’ and girls’ basketball teams as they prepare for Saturday’s second round of the CIF State Division V playoffs.

While advancement to the second round is somewhat historical for each Rebels’ squad, they will both face familiar foes.

The top-seeded Flintridge Prep girls will host nearby No. 8 Tujunga Village Christian at 6 p.m., while the second-seeded Flintridge Prep boys will welcome No. 7 San Juan Capistrano Saddleback Valley Christian at 7:30 p.m.

Both games are scheduled to be held at St. Francis High.

“Oh, I think revenge will definitely be on Village Christian’s mind,” said Flintridge Prep co-Coach Jayme Chan, who will be handling the coaching duties solo on Saturday as co-coach Kevin Kiyomura is on a business trip. “Village is a very good squad and they’re big. They played very well against us in the first half, but I have confidence in our team. I think we can win again.”

The Rebels defeated the visiting Olympic League champion Crusaders, 37-27, on Feb. 27 in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division V-AA playoffs to earn a berth to last Saturday’s divisional championship It was the second win of the season for the Rebels against the Crusaders, who also won, 47-29, in November at the Providence Tournament.

Versus Flintridge Prep, the Crusaders (23-8) showed just how dangerous they could be. The Rebels scored just three points in the second quarter, while the team trailed, 16-9, at the break.

The Rebels (21-4) responded by accounting for the game’s only double-digit scoring quarter for either team as Flintridge Prep scored 19 points and allowed only nine in taking a 28-23 lead after three quarters.

“I know that Village Christian probably wants this game more than the semifinal game,” Rebels senior forward Tala Ismail, “but I still have faith in my team that the outcome should still be the same.”

Ismail’s confidence is buoyed by the area’s longest active winning streak as the team has triumphed in 15 straight contests, including Saturday Division V-AA title win over Mission College Prep. Flintridge Prep is also making its deepest advancement in state playoff history.

Flintridge Prep earned its berth to Saturday’s game after defeating Kern Valley, 61-30, in Wednesday’s first round while Village Christian topped Mira Mesa, 64-35, in the state first round.

Such a season would seem to be taxing if not exhausting. Yet, Ismail doesn’t feel that way.

“Honestly, after each win we get more energy,” Ismail said. “We feed off the crowd and off the energy in the game. Each win gets us one step closer to a championship.”

The feeling was electric in Orange County in the final seconds of the Southern Section Division V-AA semifinal contest between the then No. 3 Flintridge Prep boys and No. 2 Saddleback Valley Christian.

The visiting Rebels trailed, 47-34, after three quarters but might have put together their finest quarter of the season in outscoring the Warriors, 26-13, to force overtime and eventually win, 70-67.

“I’m expecting a very similar back-and-forth game again with Saddleback,” Flintridge Prep Coach Garrett Ohara said. “They’re very skilled and they had good size. If you look at the team, they present real match-up problems for us, particularly inside, so we’re going to have to execute.”

In the previous contest, Saddleback Valley Christian junior Trey Smith turned in a notable effort, as Orange County’s leader scorer, according to maxpreps.com, tallied 29 points.

Warriors 6-foot-6 junior center Nick Andrews added 17 points and was a force inside and Tysan Barrett contributed 10 points.

Prep League champion Flintridge Prep (22-5) countered with 28 points from Andrew Tsangeos and 23 points from Dante Fregoso, while Kendall Kikkawa was a valuable No. 3 scorer with eight points.

San Joaquin League co-champion Saddleback Valley Christian (20-12) earned its way to the second round by defeating Mission Vista, 53-52, in Wednesday’s CIF State Division V first-round action.

The Rebels earned an uplifting 75-47 victory over visiting Huntington Park Marquez in Wednesday’s first round that helped the squad get past Saturday’s 63-45 defeat to Santa Maria St. Joseph in the Division V-AA championship game at Godinez Fundamental High.

“[Saddleback Valley] is going to be gunning for us and we’ve got a target on our back as the No. 2 seed in state and we have to come out a little bit better in the beginning,” Fregoso said. “We start better and we won’t need a huge comeback like last time.”