Santa Clara Clears Bench in 76-44 Win

Clairemont High in San Diego rests on a beautiful bluff that overlooks Mission Bay, according to Coach Greg Lee. And Lee, a former UCLA and NBA player, looks every bit the laid-back, sun-baked San Diegan.

Check out the coach’s athletic sweat shirt, tennis shorts and tanned face on the sidelines and he looks like anything but a coach steering a team in the first round of the Southern California regional Division IV playoffs.

But what else could Lee do?

His Clairemont team was badly overmatched by host Santa Clara, which thrashed the Chiefs, 76-44, in a game that wasn’t as close as it appears.

Santa Clara (26-4), a team attempting to be the first to win three consecutive state championships, will face St. Monica in a regional semifinal Thursday.

Lee, sitting with a basketball in his lap throughout the fourth quarter while junior-varsity players ran up and down the court, looked more like a pick-up player waiting for court time than anything else.

And when the buzzer finally rang on a fourth quarter that redefined the term, “garbage time,” Lee, appropriately enough, took a philosophic outlook on matters.

“I don’t think anybody in America is going to be shocked by the outcome,” Lee said. “Hey, there’s not a whole lot of analysis here. Life goes on. As of tomorrow, I’m a tennis coach.”

Call this one six-love, six-love Santa Clara.

The Saints fired the basketball equivalent of ace serves, smashing forehands and winning backhands all night at a Clairemont team that could only watch and applaud as politely as a Wimbledon crowd.

“We played very well,” said Santa Clara’s Lou Cvijanovich, who coached his 20th consecutive playoff victory. “We methodically tore them apart in the first quarter.”

Santa Clara, a slow-starting team all year, wasted little time in breaking tradition.

Behind guard Art Barron’s pinpoint passing, junior guard Chris Cole went inside and scored 11 of his 15 points. Santa Clara led, 15-6, after one quarter.

In the second quarter, Barron made three three-point shots and Santa Clara led at halftime, 33-15.

Nearly every rebound that the Saints wanted was theirs.

Junior Stevie Amar collared 13 and junior Isaiah Mustafa had nine to go with 14 points. Cole, who played one of his best offensive games of the playoffs, had seven rebounds.

Barron finished with 15 points to tie Cole for team-high honors.

For Clairemont (12-13), senior guard Alex Love finished with a game-high 24 points, making 10 of 24 shots.

With the game easily in hand, Cvijanovich emptied the bench in the fourth quarter and finished the game with junior-varsity players. Lee, with little choice, did the same, and the court was transformed into a ragged version of tomorrowland.

The situation in a nutshell?

Clairemont sophomore Michael Meyer peeled his sweats to reveal a circa 1950s practice jersey with the words Chief Pride barely ironed on.

Lee, sitting on the bench, enjoyed a smile. What else could he do?

CLOVIS WEST 72, BUENA 55

VENTURA 71, EL CAJON VALLEY 66

STORIES, C10