Saugus Holds Back Palos Verdes to Reach 3-A Final, 45-41

The glass slipper still fits. In a battle of unseeded Cinderellas, Saugus High almost cracked, but held off a furious Palos Verdes comeback attempt on Tuesday night to win its Southern Section 3-A semifinal, 45-41, before a capacity crowd at Rolling Hills High.

The victory sends Saugus (21-9) to its first appearance in a Southern Section championship game. On Saturday at the Sports Arena, the Centurions will play Rolling Hills, which beat Corona del Mar on Tuesday, 56-54.

Saugus, flying high after being shown the movie “Top Gun” before the game, played a near-perfect first half and built a 17-point lead early in the third quarter. But Palos Verdes fought back, pulling to within four points, 41-37, with three minutes left.

Saugus’ Greg Weber missed the first of a one-and-one opportunity with 2:12 left and Palos Verdes’ Jason Taylor hit a running one-handed shot to pull the Sea Kings to within a basket.

Darren Newberry hit one free throw with 1:19 left, but Palos Verdes’ Mike Matteoni scored a rebound basket to pull within 42-41 with 49 seconds left.

Newberry hit another free throw at the 14-second mark but missed his second shot. Palos Verdes got the rebound and Taylor took the potential game-tying shot. It missed and the rebound went to Saugus’ Jeff Dorst, who hit two free throws with six seconds left to seal the victory.

Saugus Coach John Clark said he was never confident even with the big lead.

“The momentum swung--I know that sounds trite but they’re a good team,” Clark said. “They kept battling and shot the ball really well in the second half. We withstood the charge. The first half was about as well as we have played; the second half I knew it was their turn.”

When asked about missed free throws in the clutch, Clark grinned and said “We saved them for Saturday afternoon.”

He added “This time of year there’s pressure on everybody. They’re just kids.”

The Centurions opened with a smothering man-to-man defense and sped to an 8-0 lead.