SEA VIEW LEAGUE BOYS’ BASKETBALL : Even With Irvine’s Ambrozich on Bench, No. 7 Tustin Falls

It looked more like a halftime score--Irvine 29, Tustin 24--than one early in the fourth quarter when Vaquero forward Eric Ambrozich strolled to the bench with his fifth foul.

And it looked as though the Vaqueros were in big trouble without their big man.

But unranked Irvine survived without Ambrozich’s size and strong inside play, upsetting seventh-ranked Tustin, 44-38, in a Sea View League game Wednesday night at Irvine.

Irvine (15-5, 5-3) beat Tustin for the second time in three meetings this season, and knocked the Tillers (15-5, 6-2) out of first place in the league standings.

The Vaqueros did it by making clutch free throws--something they’re not too good at.

They hit 11 of 14 free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter, including three in the final 20 seconds by senior forward Brent Eldridge. They made only seven of 23 free throws in a victory over Newport Harbor Friday.

Ambrozich, a 6-foot-7 senior, fouled out with six minutes five seconds left after scoring a team-high 14 points and pulling down nine rebounds.

Tustin then cut its five-point deficit to one, 33-32, after Rod Scheuerman sank a three-point shot with 4:10 left.

“I think the fans, everyone, had the scenario painted right there,” Irvine Coach Steve Keith said. “Ambrozich was out, Tustin cut it to one. But our kids hung in there and hit their free throws.”

Eldridge made both ends of a one-and-one with 3:27 left. After a missed three-pointer by Scheuerman, Irvine’s Greg Foster made two more free throws to push the lead to 37-32 with 3:12 left.

Scheuerman made two free throws with 2:19 left to make it 37-34. Tustin got the ball back but missed a chance to tie when Jeff Aguilar’s three-pointer bounced off the rim with 1:56 left.

Irvine’s Greg Wakeham and Tustin’s Chris Farmer each hit shots before the Vaqueros put it away in the final 34 seconds with two free throws from Hossein Mohtashami and three more by Eldridge.

Eldridge finished with seven points, all on fourth-quarter free throws. Jim French added nine points and Wakeham eight for the Vaqueros.

“Eldridge did a great job for us at the free-throw line tonight,” Keith said.

Irvine stretched a 12-6 first-quarter lead to eight early in the second quarter by easily handling the Tillers’ full-court pressure and zone defense. The Vaqueros also capitalized on 11 Tiller turnovers in the first half and led, 18-14, at halftime.

Irvine beat Tustin, 63-49, in the final of the Coast Christmas Classic in December before losing to the Tillers, 36-35, in the league opener Jan. 6.

“We hope to build on this one,” Keith said. “We were absolutely dead in the water after that (league) loss to Tustin. It haunted us through the first half of league play. We weren’t playing well.”

Scheuerman led Tustin with 13 points, and point guard Doug Gottlieb added seven points for the Tillers. Tustin entered the game in a tie with Santa Margarita for first-place in the league, but is now one game behind the Eagles with six games remaining.

In other league games:

Santa Margarita 66, University 60--Brad Finneran led a balanced attack with 12 points for Santa Margarita (16-3, 7-1), which took over sole possession of the league lead. Robert Luna had 23 points and Demitrius Zeigler scored 21 for University.

Woodbridge 58, Corona del Mar 54--Shea Stone was five of five from the free-throw line in the last three minutes to help lift Woodbridge (11-7, 5-3) to victory. Todd Merriman had 13 points for Corona del Mar (11-8, 4-4).

Newport Harbor 53, Saddleback 46--Ramy Shoukry, a 6-foot-6 junior, led Newport Harbor (10-10, 3-5) with 15 points.Junior Rob Hollaway had a game-high 18 points for Saddleback (5-14, 1-7).