SOUTHERN SECTION BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : DIVISION II-AA : Tustin Does What It Is Told, Gets Back to Basics to Defeat Muir

There were times Tuesday night when the Tustin High School basketball team was barely hanging on. Pushed to the edge by a quicker Muir team, the Tillers responded the only way they knew how.

“We play defense,” guard David Beilstein said. “That’s what we’ve been working on since the first day of practice.”

Apparently, it has been a lesson well learned.

The Tillers went back to those basics for a 71-57 victory, which advanced them into the Southern Section II-AA final. Tustin will play Riverside North in the championship game at 2:45 p.m. Saturday at the Sports Arena. Riverside North defeated Gahr, 86-71, in the other semifinal Tuesday.

By halftime, most of the overflow crowd at Pasadena High School probably had penciled in Muir for Saturday’s matchup. The Mustangs, the second-seeded team in the division, appeared too fast for the Tillers.

Muir led by as many as eight points in the second quarter and was ahead, 38-32, at halftime.

But before bus reservations for the Sports Arena could be made, the Mustangs’ season fell apart.

Tustin opened the second half with a defensive ferocity that seemed to unnerve Muir. The Tillers forced six turnovers in the first four minutes, resulting in an 11-1 run.

They never trailed again.

“We are a defensive team, that’s the one thing that has remained constant for us all season,” Tustin Coach Tom McCluskey said. “We just told the kids at halftime to calm down and play solid.”

The Tillers did as they were told.

Muir (23-5) scored only 19 points and turned the ball over 14 times in the second half.

The Mustangs had problems with Tustin’s 3-2 zone, which took away much of their offense. Point guard Jacque Vaughn had burned the Tillers repeatedly in the first half by penetrating for layups or dishing of to teammates.

Vaughn scored 13 points by halftime, but finished with only 18.

Forced to the outside by the zone, the Mustangs made only nine of 26 shots in the second half.

Muir scored only five points in the third quarter and trailed, 46-43. Things only got worse.

Derek Roche scored eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter as the Tillers (25-4) methodically increased their lead. A layup by Roche gave Tustin a 60-49 lead with 3 minutes 38 seconds left.

The Mustangs turned to their press to try to regain momentum, but they were burned repeatedly. The Tillers broke it by hitting long passes, which resulted in three-on-two fast breaks.

“Every time they went into the press, we went away from the double team,” said forward Thomas Clayton, who scored 20 points. “When we broke it, we came at them.”

Tustin scored 10 points off press breaks in the final four minutes.

“We wanted it more then they did,” Clayton said. “That was obvious.”

But it wasn’t in the first half.

The score was tied, 21-21, at the end of the first quarter, but the Mustangs were in control. The only thing keeping Tustin close was the shooting of Beilstein (17 points), who made three three-pointers in the first quarter.

A three-point play by Vaughn and two three-point baskets by Adrian Gayles gave Muir a 34-26 lead.

Clayton, who had 13 points in the first half, scored the final four points of the half to keep the Tillers close.

From there, it was back to basics.