Given the Free Throws, Saugus Holds the Line Again

A banner draped across one of the walls in the College of the Canyons gym Wednesday night read, “Time is Running Out. There’s no Turning Back.”

There certainly wasn’t anywhere to go for Saugus High except out of the state basketball tournament or back to the Los Angeles Sports Arena for the finals of the Division II Southern Regional.

But time is not a factor when you’re shooting free throws. When a player goes to the line--time stands still. The clock stops and you either sink it or your team gets sunk. Saugus was able to overcome its own sloppy play and beat Oceanside, 47-39, because the Centurions made 20 of 26 free throws while Oceanside was just 1 of 7.

Jackson Clark, a reserve guard for Saugus, made six straight free throws in the third quarter before he was removed from the game by his coach--and father--John Clark, immediately after converting the sixth one.

“One of their players was standing near me and he was taunting me,” Jackson Clark said. “He was saying, ‘You’re going to miss this one so you can stay in the game. But, I wanted to make it so I could come out.’ ”

Come out? Of a playoff game? If that sounds improbable, well, it’s actually understandable, coming from a Saugus player.

Saugus, the third-place team in the Golden League, went into the state tournament after becoming only the second wild-card team in the history of the Southern Section to win a division title.

The 3-A champion Centurions won six playoff games in a row over Hart, second-seeded Katella, California, Tustin, Palos Verdes and top-seeded Rolling Hills.

The Centurions have been a good free-throw-shooting team throughout the playoffs.

“We just seem to be able to hang in there until something works for us,” John Clark said. “One of our best qualities is our mental toughness. These kids are just tough.”

Saugus point guard Greg Weber made 6 of 7 free throws down the stretch.

“We don’t do anything real unusual in practice,” Weber said. “We just try to be poised and concentrate at the line.”

Saugus guard Rick Bilek, who made two key free throws in the fourth quarter, shrugged off any pressure there might have been. “Tonight, the team (Oceanside) was giving me some stares when I was at the line, but it just made me want to make the shots that much more. As long as we keep making them, we’ll keep going on.”