SEA VIEW LEAGUE BOYS’ BASKETBALL : Gottlieb’s Basket With Two Seconds to Play Leads Tustin

As starting point guard, Tustin’s Doug Gottlieb likes to make things happen by hitting one of his teammates for the open shot.

But with time running out and the score tied Friday night against Woodbridge, Gottlieb made it happen all by himself as he drove into the key and hit an eight-foot shot with two seconds left to give the Tillers a 52-50 Sea View League victory over the Warriors at Tustin High School.

“We were going to run a pick and roll, but with (Chris) Farmer fouled out, we didn’t have anybody in who knew the play,” Gottlieb said. “So I started with some isolation to make something happen. I drove on my defender, double clutched and put something extra on it and it went in.”

Gottlieb, who also had eight assists, helped the Tillers (18-6, 9-3 in league) rebound from Wednesday’s loss to Corona del Mar and set up next Wednesday’s showdown with Santa Margarita for the league championship. Tustin is the two-time defending league champion.

Except for a brief 25-24 Woodbridge lead in the second quarter, Tustin led until the closing moments. The Tillers had a 46-38 lead on Rod Scheuerman’s basket with 5:56 left in the game, but Woodbridge (12-10, 6-6) was able to close in after Tustin blew the front end of three one-and-one free-throw situations.

John Florance came off the bench to lead the Warrior rally with nine of his game-high 16 points in the fourth quarter. Florance’s free throw cut the deficit to 50-46 with 1:44 remaining. He drove the lane for a basket to cut the margin to 50-48 with 1:01 left, and he hit two free throws to tie the score at 50 with 35 seconds remaining.

“We were lucky to get by this one,” said Tustin Coach Andy Ground. “We were down after Corona del Mar. Woodbridge is a good team with good shooters.”

Tustin was playing without Farmer and Jason Reynolds, who fouled out, and Dejuan Matthews was playing with four fouls the entire fourth quarter. Scheuerman led the Tillers with 13 points and seven rebounds.

In other league games:

Newport Harbor 50, Corona del Mar 41--Ramy Shoukry had 11 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots and Eric Vallely scored 11 points for host Newport Harbor (12-12, 5-7), which made 11 of 15 free throws in the fourth quarter. Todd Merriman had 19 points for Corona del Mar (5-7 in league).

Santa Margarita 65, Saddleback 52--Bobby Nolan had 19 points to lead Santa Margarita (19-4, 10-2). Rob Halloway led Saddleback (8-15, 4-8) with 28 points.

Irvine 65, University 38--University made only two of 25 shots from the field and two of eight from the free-throw line in the first half and trailed, 24-7, at halftime. Eric Ambrozich had 18 points and Brent Eldridge had 16 for Irvine (17-6, 7-4).