SEA VIEW LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Pressure Defense Helps Tustin Top Corona del Mar

Although Tustin High School Coach Tom McCluskey prefers to play pressure man-to-man defense, the Tillers tried a matchup zone against Corona del Mar Friday night, and it produced the same result.

Tustin, the third-ranked team in the county, improved to 20-3 overall and 7-1 in Sea View League play with a 57-47 victory over the Sea Kings (11-13, 4-4) at Tustin High School.

“I don’t like to start out in a zone because we tend to play too soft,” McCluskey said.

Instead, Tustin played too aggressively, and starting center Brian Reider and forward Jentry Moore picked up two fouls each early.

Leading, 26-21, Tustin opened the second half in its matchup zone and took Corona del Mar out of its offense.

“It’s hard to start out your offense when you’re 40 feet away from the basket,” Corona del Mar Coach Paul Orris said. “When they extended their zone, it forced us out of our offense and we turned it over.”

In the third quarter, Tustin allowed Corona del Mar just five shots, while it made six of seven to take a 36-25 lead.

But Jon Upham kept Corona del Mar close with his team-high 22 points, canning a three-pointer with 48 seconds left in the third quarter to cut the Tustin lead to 36-30.

In the fourth quarter, Tustin’s David Beilstein (25 points) sank eight of 10 free throws to put the game out of reach.