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Tustin Directs Pressure That Deflates Orange

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

As roofs go, the one that caved in on Orange High School’s basketball team Tuesday night was a hefty one.

Orange got to halftime trailing Tustin by five points. But things fell apart shortly thereafter and Tustin pulled away for a 79-50 victory in a Division II-AA playoff game.

Third-seeded Tustin, 23-4 after its second-half romp, plays Edison, a 71-49 winner over Elsinore, in Friday’s quarterfinals.

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Orange Coach Richard Bossenmeyer’s overachieving Panthers end their season 15-9. But if one half is any indication, there could be better days ahead for Orange.

Early Tuesday night, Tustin didn’t struggle as much as it sputtered while trying to find the right defensive pressure. The Tillers were trying to match up with Orange in a box-and-one defense, the better to stifle Panther guard Carlos Duran.

Or so Tustin Coach Tom McCluskey thought.

After a half in which Duran scored 15 points, McCluskey had seen enough, chucking the box-and-one in favor of a straight man-to-man.

“I don’t know why we went to a box-and-one,” McCluskey said. “That almost killed us in the second quarter.”

Tustin led, 29-19, midway through the second quarter, but Orange rallied to within 35-30 by halftime.

The rest of the game was an example of how a suffocating defense can lead to layups, dunks and easy jump shots. The Tillers were everywhere at once, batting down passes, scooping up loose balls and turning a close game into a rout.

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Over the next 10:57, spanning the third quarter and part of the fourth, Tustin turned a 35-30 lead into a 67-40 advantage.

“We’ve had good runs like that throughout the year,” McCluskey said. “Usually, the defense creates them. The third and fourth quarters, we played some pretty solid defense.”

As an example, Duran had just two points--a 10-foot jumper at the baseline that broke Orange’s scoreless streak 4:25 into the third quarter--the rest of the way.

For Tustin, the easy baskets kept coming in a seemingly endless stream.

When Thomas Clayton slammed home a lob pass from Jentry Moore on yet another fast break, Tustin led, 69-40, and it was time for McCluskey to clear the bench.

Guard David Beilstein had 23 points, Clayton 21 points and Brian Reider 10 for Tustin.

Duran had 17 points and Thu Huynh 13 for Orange, no doubt hurt by the absence of Jamiel Worthem. Averaging 15.5 points and 8.3 rebounds, Worthem was ruled academically ineligible last week.

Even with him, though, Orange would have been hard-pressed to keep Tustin close for two halves.

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