SOUTH COAST LEAGUE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : San Clemente Misses Are Hit for Dana Hills

Friday night at San Clemente High School, the Tritons made only five of 20 shots from the field in the fourth quarter against Dana Hills, and that was the best they could muster.

In the battle for third place in the South Coast League, San Clemente shot 22% from the field for the game, making 12 of 54 shots during a 59-49 loss.

Dana Hills improved to 13-11, 5-5 in league to take third place. San Clemente fell to 12-12 and 4-6 to finish fourth.

“We’ve had streaks where the ball hasn’t fallen for us,” San Clemente Coach Dion Kerhoulas said. “It wasn’t anything different that Dana Hills did defensively from the first time we faced them, we just didn’t execute.”

San Clemente’s center, 6-foot-7 Eddie Morgan, tried to keep the Tritons close with his game-high 22 points, 16 rebounds, and five blocked shots.

But the Tritons made only one field goal in the second quarter as Dana Hills turned a one-point first quarter lead into a 30-23 halftime lead.

Dana Hills’ backcourt led the charge with guard Josh Barnett scoring a team-high 21 points and 15 rebounds. Jaime Todd scored eight points and had 10 assists.

After Morgan Bannister (11 points) made a layup to cut the lead to 22-19 with 4:30 to play in the half, San Clemente went the next 10 minutes 34 seconds without a field goal.

Morgan ended the drought with a rebound follow to cut the gap to 38-28 with 1:56 to play in the third quarter. But the Dolphins maintained the lead in the final quarter by making 11 of 13 free throws.

“In the old playoff system, now we’d be out and Dana Hills would be in,” Kerhoulas said. “I like the new system where everyone gets in because we’d look at Dana Hills, and some of the other schools we’d beaten in the preseason, and see them go on while we stay home.

“That would have been pretty hard to take,” Kerhoulas said.