SOUTHERN SECTION BASKETBALL PLAYOFF CHAMPIONSHIPS : Tustin Has No Trouble Taking Title : Division II-AA: Tillers get long-awaited championship with 70-42 victory. Riverside North never threatens.

Mike Bartee, Riverside North High School boys’ basketball coach, says Tustin is the type of team that “plays with a lot of love,” but the Tillers showed little compassion Saturday in the Southern Section Division II-AA championship game.

Coach Tom McCluskey’s team used its trademark pressure defense and unselfish, balanced offense to gain a 70-42 victory before 6,807 at the Sports Arena.

The one-sided victory gave Tustin (26-4) a section title after failing to win the 1981 and 1988 championship games. Riverside North (24-4) started three underclassmen and its inexperience showed from the opening tipoff. No player scored in double figures; North’s leading scorer was reserve Kelley Jackson, who had nine points.

Tustin shot 68% in the second half when it outscored North, 45-25. Defense? Tustin’s 2-3 matchup zone limited North to only 14 points in the second and third quarters.

“Tustin is the best team we’ve seen this year,” Bartee said. “They play with a whole lot of love. They’re the type of team that gets the job done, and it doesn’t matter who scores. They got a total team effort today.”

As usual, point guard David Beilstein led Tustin with 20 points, but the senior had plenty of help from his supporting cast. Power forward Thomas Clayton added 17 points and four rebounds and ever-improving center Brian Reider had 13 points and six rebounds. .

“This is a special group of kids and it showed again today,” McCluskey said. “They’re unselfish and play unbelievably well together. I was scared to death about their (North’s) rebounding, and I thought we did a fairly good job against them on the boards.”

North had a superior height advantage with 6-foot-6 bookend forwards Edward Forney and Orie Benjamin in the lineup, but the Huskies finished with only one more rebound (33-32). What hurt Riverside North most was the absence of guard Terreno Butler.

Butler, the team’s best outside shooter, started the game but exited early when his knee began to swell. He never returned and failed to score.

“We felt Butler was their only player who could fill it up (shoot effectively) so we sat in the 2-3 matchup,” McCluskey said. “More than anything, I think they missed his senior leadership.”

North stayed close for a half, but Tustin went to its third-quarter knockout punch that sent the Huskies reeling. Reider scored six of his 13 points in that span when Tustin outscored North, 16-7.

Clayton signaled the beginning of the end for North when he made a three-point play with 5 minutes 39 seconds remaining in the third quarter to push Tustin ahead, 34-19. Clayton’s one-handed, tomahawk dunk with 2:16 remaining signaled the victory celebration as Tustin led, 58-38.

McCluskey cleared his bench moments later, but reserve guard Carnard Polk continued the rout by scoring eight points in the final two minutes.

Afterward, McCluskey was asked about a possible meeting next week against Division II-A champion Artesia in the Southern California Regionals. McCluskey welcomed the challenge.

“I think it would be a fun game,” he said. “These kids look forward to a challenge like that. They certainly have some great talent, and we would love to play them.”