Santa Margarita Scoreless in Final 3:20 of Its Season

Even though Santa Margarita led much of the way and had a four-point lead late in the game, the Eagles looked as if they were there for the taking.

University of San Diego High School obliged and took Santa Margarita out of the Division III Southern California Regional tournament with a 41-39 victory in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 3,000 at University of San Diego.

The second-seeded Dons will play top-seeded Pacifica at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at the Anaheim Arena for the regional title.

Santa Margarita (25-7) had plenty of chances to be in Saturday’s game, but missed free throws and turnovers were the Eagles’ downfall. They missed nine of 16 free throws and made two key turnovers in the last two minutes of the game.

The Eagles scored four consecutive points on baskets by Brendan Mulligan and Brian Finneran to take a 39-35 lead with three minutes, 20 seconds left. But they never scored again.

“I thought the tide was turning a little,” Santa Margarita Coach Jerry DeBusk said.

Instead, it turned toward USDHS and it never turned back. Josh Merrill hit one of two free throws to make it 39-36 with 2:50 left and Scott Pharis converted a Mulligan turnover into a layup that made it 39-38 with 2:16 left.

Santa Margarita held the ball until Brad Finneran threw a lazy half-court pass that Merrill intercepted. Merrill missed his layup, but Tony Gutierrez scored on a rebound with :32 left. Gutierrez also made his foul shot to give USDHS a 41-39 lead.

“When they started getting tentative, that allowed us to play the passing lanes,” USDHS Coach Jim Tomey said.

Santa Margarita stayed tentative on its next possession. After Brad Finneran failed to get the ball inside to his brother Brian, he tossed up an 18-footer that missed badly. USDHS’s Clint Cummings got the rebound and was fouled with three seconds left. He missed the front end of a one-and-one to give the Eagles one more chance.

After a timeout, Brian Finneran threw a baseball pass to Brian Scoggin, who threw up an off-balance turnaround jumper from 22 feet that hit the back of the rim.

Afterward, all DeBusk could think about was all the misses opportunities.

“Our best chance came when Merrill picked up his fourth foul with seven minutes left,” DeBusk said. “I told our team, we had to make our run now. But we didn’t capitalize.”

The Eagles held Merrill, who averaged 21 points and 14 points, to 13 points and eight rebounds, but they couldn’t handle the quickness of Gutierrez (14 points, four rebounds).

“He hurt us with his drives and he made his free throws,” Brad Finneran said.

Said Merrill: “They were collapsing on me so other guys had to step up. And they did, just like they have been all year.”

Meanwhile, Santa Margarita stepped up to the free throw line and shot mostly blanks.

“We had to convert the free throws, but (Thursday) we just didn’t do it,” DeBusk said.