Faith Baptist Advances to Title Game

If Peter Rasmussen keeps playing as well as he did Tuesday night, he’s really going to put the family business on the map.

Rasmussen, a 6-foot-8 senior, scored 31 points and had 11 rebounds as Faith Baptist High held off stubborn Brentwood, 78-63, in a Southern Section Division V-AA basketball playoff semifinal at Santa Monica High.

For Rasmussen, the performance tied a season-high in points. For his father, it might mean a boon of another kind. Roland Rasmussen is the founder and pastor at Faith Baptist, which will head to a section final for the second time in three seasons.

Faith Baptist (24-5) will face Campbell Hall, a 44-36 winner over Brethren Christian, in the final Friday night at a site to be announced.

Rasmussen made 13 of 15 shots from the field, including a variety of perimeter shots and turnaround jump shots. Rasmussen made all eight of his shots in the first half.

“Seeing as how I wasn’t playing real well in the playoffs, I guess the Lord was helping the shots fall tonight,” Rasmussen said.

The shots, to be sure, fell sporadically for both teams in a game that switched momentum about every five minutes.

Faith Baptist’s first-quarter trap forced Brentwood into nine turnovers. But Brentwood, the defending V-AA champion, battled back in the second quarter and moved to within 36-35 when Mark Kessler banked home a 70-foot three-point basket with a baseball toss at the halftime buzzer.

Though Faith Baptist had blown a lead of as many as 14 points in the half, Coach Stuart Mason tried to tie a shiny ribbon on the performance and sell it as a positive.

“I asked them, ‘How would you like to play Brentwood and have them spot you a point?’ ” Mason said. “I tried to make sure they knew that they still had the lead.”

Not for long. With Faith Baptist forward Etienne Moore on the bench with four fouls, Brentwood (20-8) pounded the ball inside and stayed close. Brentwood led, 39-36, after Kevin Rille (22 points) scored and made a free throw to complete a three-point play with 6 minutes 53 seconds left in the third quarter.

But Rasmussen scored seven points and point guard Alex Estrada added 10 of his 25 in the quarter as Faith Baptist rallied back.

Faith Baptist led, 63-55, with 3:11 left in the game when Estrada stole a pass and bolted down the floor. He was ruled to have been intentionally fouled by Ricky David and made a pair of free throws to extend the lead to 10 points.

Faith Baptist held off Brentwood by making six of its final eight free throws, and the Contenders made 16 of 20 in the game.