Morningside Warms Up, Then Wins : Boys’ basketball: The Monarchs take control in second quarter of 80-61 victory over Exeter.

After a four-hour drive from the heart of San Joaquin Valley farm country, the Exeter High boys’ basketball team wasn’t in any hurry to leave Inglewood Morningside High to return.

So it took Morningside most of the first half to subdue Exeter in an 80-61 victory.

The Monarchs (27-5) turned up the intensity on defense midway through the second quarter and that set off a fast-break attack. Donminic Ellison paced the Monarchs with 19 points, with Stais Boseman adding 18 and Corey Saffold 13.

That Exeter, with a 12-12 record coming in, could stay fairly even with the state’s top-ranked Division III team for 1 1/2 quarters was probably a big surprise to many at Tuesday’s first-round game.

“It took us awhile, but we got it done,” Morningside Coach Carl Franklin said. “We played a team that was very disciplined. A couple of our kids hit big shots, and we got caught up in the momentum.”

It wasn’t until a 20-6 run sparked by Boseman at the end of the second quarter that Morningside could feel comfortable.

Exeter trailed, 28-23, and with three minutes to play in the half when 6-foot-8 center Brian Warford missed two close-range shots.

Boseman stole the ball twice and scored on two free throws, a three-pointer and a dunk to lead the Morningside surge to a 48-29 lead.

“Coach Franklin told us to pick up our intensity,” Boseman said. “We’re really not a half-court team. We have to use our defense to get our fast break going.”

The Monarchs didn’t let up during the third quarter, using a 16-3 run to pull ahead, 64-32, before Franklin cleared his bench.

“We played hard defensively,” Franklin said. “We tried to step it up defensively, and that let us pull away.”

Morningside forced Exeter, the Central Section Division III runner-up, into 30 turnovers, including six during that second quarter stretch. Exeter was also hampered by foul trouble, with standout 6-5 forward Randy VerSteeg and guard Chris Ferrera sidelined for much of the first half with three fouls each.

Forward Jesse Macias gave Exeter solid outside shooting and finished with a game-high 21 points and Warford added 11. VerSteeg, however, was limited to six points.

“Our team got the jitters out,” Boseman said. “A lot of our guys were nervous about playing in the state tournament.

Morningside, the Southern Section Division III-AA champion, will play host to a second-round state playoff game Thursday night.