Tustin Turns On Afterburners in Third Quarter to Rally Again : Comeback: There were no long faces in the Tillers’ locker room at halftime despite a nine-point deficit.

Everything was well in hand for the Tustin High School basketball team at halftime of the State Division II championship game Saturday.

Sure, Danville San Ramon Valley had a nine-point lead. And certainly, Tustin had played about as poorly as a team can play.

So what? The third quarter was a comin’, and that’s Tiller time.

“We believe that the third quarter belongs to us,” Tustin guard Derek Roche said. “No one has proven us wrong yet.”

That streak continued in Tustin’s 66-54 victory.

The Tillers came out with a vengeance in the third quarter. With arms flailing and bodies flying, they overwhelmed the Wolves.

Tustin outscored San Ramon Valley, 16-6, in the quarter to move in front, 40-39. It was the Tillers’ first lead, and they never gave it back.

“Other teams are always fired up when the game starts, but then they cool down,” forward Thomas Clayton said. “We remain focused in the third quarter, and that makes the difference.”

It did in every playoff game. The Tillers outscored opponents, 166-78, during the third quarter in nine postseason games.

They erased a 38-32 halftime deficit with a third-quarter blitz against Muir in the Southern Section II-AA playoffs. They also broke open a tie game with a third-quarter run against Artesia in the Southern California Regional final last Saturday.

So there weren’t any worried Tustin faces when San Ramon walked off the court with a 33-24 lead Saturday.

“We knew we had played lousy in the first half,” center Brian Reider said. “But we also knew no one has been able to handle us in the third quarter.”

San Ramon Valley certainly didn’t.

Tustin opened the second half in “Red 100,” which is a half-court trap, part controlled riot. The Wolves never knew what hit them.

Tustin players flew from all directions, knocking down passes and diving on loose balls. Their playground-style performance had a psychological effect on the Wolves.

San Ramon Valley, which had turned the ball over once in the first half, wilted under the pressure. It turned the ball over six times in the third quarter and got only six shots.

The Tillers had four steals and blocked three shots during the quarter.

“Coach (Tom McCluskey) got us fired up at halftime,” Clayton said. “He told us games aren’t won in the first half; they’re won in the second half.”

Is that all he said?

“I can’t repeat most of it,” Reider said. “You couldn’t print it anyway.”

David Beilstein started the quarter with back-to-back three-point field goals. Roche later made two steals, which resulted in layups by Reider and Clayton.

Suddenly, the Wolves’ lead had evaporated.

“We have never seen anything like that before,” San Ramon Valley Coach John Raynor said. “It seemed like every time we turned the ball over, they scored.”

The Wolves hung tough but soon found themselves trailing. Another three-pointer by Beilstein and a free throw by Reider, and the Tillers had a 40-39 lead.

The fourth quarter was tight, but there was little question about the outcome.

“We won it in the third quarter,” Clayton said.

So what else is new?