DIVISION III-AA : Santa Margarita Routs Cathedral City

Santa Margarita, seeded fourth in Division III-AA, made an impression on Cathedral City in a first-round playoff game Friday night, winning, 87-43, in the Eagles’ gym.

Although Santa Margarita (22-4) completely outmatched Cathedral City (8-15), Eagles Coach Jerry DeBusk found fault with his team’s play.

“It might seem crazy if you look at the score, but at times tonight I don’t think we played well,” DeBusk said. “We had four days off, so I didn’t know going into this game how we would play. And I didn’t know much about the team.”

DeBusk probably got an idea as Santa Margarita, the No. 1 team out of the Sea View League, jumped to a 20-8 lead in the first quarter and then widened it to 39-21 at halftime. The game wasn’t even close after the first seven minutes. Santa Margarita’s Jason Stipher made nine of his team’s 19 points on three-pointers in the second quarter as the Eagles controlled the offense.

Bryan Young led Santa Margarita, which will meet Sonora in the quarterfinals Feb. 26, with 16 points. Teammate Bobby Nolan had 12 points.