Boys’ basketball: How Crespi toppled Maranatha and Tyler Dorsey

Encino Crespi has made it to the championship game of the Division IV Southern California Regionals by doing something few teams have done this season _ contain Tyler Dorsey and Maranatha.

Coming off a 52-point performance against Chaminade, Dorsey was limited to 25 points on Tuesday in a 65-52 loss.

“The strategy was making sure he didn’t get any clean looks,” Crespi Coach Russell White said. “He probably had two open looks the whole night. He had to work for everything. He always saw a second defender and sometimes a third. We didn’t give other guys easy looks either. That’s what made it such a good performance.”

Crespi (27-7) is supposed to be a year away from having its best team in White’s coaching tenure, but things have changed. The Celts get to play Campbell Hall on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Colony for a trip to Berkeley.

De’Anthony Melton, a 6-foot-4 junior, has emerged as the Celts’ best player. He had 21 points and 11 rebounds against Maranatha, and White said he turned in the best performance on the floor. The Celts are also playing four freshmen. Taj Regans had 16 points and six steals. Another freshman, Brandon Williams, guarded Dorsey for extensive periods.

White has been put into an unusual position.

“Usually I’m getting ready to watch NCAA basketball, not tape of Campbell Hall,’’ he said.

Crespi will have to pull off a rare feat _ try to contain Tyler Dorsey and Aaron Holiday in back to back games.

Holiday, the UCLA-bound senior, scored 35 points to help the Vikings topple No. 1-seeded Immanuel, 77-71. And the Vikings have a rising junior in Jordan Cohen.

Twitter:@LATSondheimer