A Weary Mira Costa Holds Off Leuzinger : Preps: Mustangs, who have played seven games in nine days, reach final of El Segundo tournament.

Glenn Marx knew the consequences, but he did it anyway.

The Mira Costa High basketball coach scheduled the team to play in the Pacific Shores and El Segundo tournaments on consecutive weeks to start the season.

But despite playing its seventh game in nine days, Mira Costa escaped with 50-44 victory over Leuzinger in a semifinal game of the El Segundo tournament Thursday night at El Segundo High.

“We were a little tired,” Marx said of his team, which played five games in the Pacific Shores tournament last week. “It’s understandable to be a little lethargic, especially when you are playing teams of such high caliber. But when you keep on winning and winning, you don’t get much of a break.”

Mira Costa guard Josh Branca finished with a game-high 22 points, including three second-half three-point baskets, to help extinguish a late Leuzinger rally.

Forward Phil Fonua and center Frank Zeno had 10 points each. Zeno, a 6-foot-5 senior, also had 10 rebounds and six blocks.

The Mustangs (6-1) will make their sixth consecutive appearance in a tournament final and third in a row in the El Segundo tournament tonight against Bishop Montgomery (2-0) at 7:30.

Mira Costa advanced to the final of the Pacific Shores tournament the past two seasons and won the Cimmaron tournament in Las Vegas last season.

“We really geared up for this time of year,” Marx said.

Mira Costa’s route to tonight’s final, though, was not pretty.

“We were sleeping mentally,” said Fonua, who also had nine rebounds. “We were overlooking them and overconfident.”

The Mustangs, who raced to a 31-2 lead in a quarterfinal victory over El Segundo on Wednesday, took an 11-4 lead midway through the first quarter.

Mira Costa scored six consecutive points to extend its lead to 17-6 late in the first quarter. However, the Olympians closed to 41-38 with five minutes 16 seconds left in the game.

But Branca dashed Leuzinger hopes with a three-point basket and a basket on a back-door pass from Fonua to help the Mustangs take a 48-38 lead with 1:52 to play.

“We started out lazy, but we pulled through,” said Branca, a 6-foot senior. “I think it’s an advantage playing this many games so early in the year. It brings us together and helps the team get experience under its belt.”

Mira Costa led, 26-20, at halftime and by as many as 12 points in the first half.

Branca and John Murphy combined for Mira Costa’s first four points of the second quarter to help the Mustangs take their biggest lead, 21-9.

Leuzinger’s Wendell Robinson, who had 16 points, scored on two short bank shots, and Dwayne Thompson drove up the middle for a basket to spark a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to 23-15.

Jemel Floyd brought the Olympians to within 26-20 on a fadeaway jump shot with a minute left before halftime.

Leuzinger (3-4) plays Hawthorne in the third-place game of the 12-team tournament tonight at 6.

St. Genevieve and Mary Star will play in the consolation championship at 4:30, preceded by South Bay Lutheran and Whitney in the ninth-place game at 3 p.m.

North Torrance 64, El Segundo 48--Jimmy Miller scored a game-high 29 points and had seven assists for the Saxons in the fifth-place game.

Richard Williams added 12 points and seven rebounds and Kevin Okada had six rebounds.

North Torrance (8-4) extended a nine-point first-half lead to 40-24 in the final two minutes of the second quarter. Scott Layne and Jarrod Leitch had 14 and 10 points for El Segundo (3-3).