DIVISION III-AA ROUNDUP : Fullerton Finishes Magnolia’s Season

This time, there was going to be no fade. Fullerton High’s Sam Mankiewicz was certain of that Tuesday.

Even when things got tight in the Indians’ 66-52 victory over Magnolia, Mankiewicz was sure there would be no repeats. No gags, such as last time, especially not in their own gymnasium.

“We were going to finish them off this time,” said Mankiewicz, a junior forward. “We weren’t going to blow it again.”

The Indians didn’t, and they will play fourth-seeded Servite Friday in the second round of the Southern Section III-AA playoffs. That’s still ahead of them, but Mankiewicz wanted to look back, if only for a moment. Back to December.

The Indians had Magnolia down 26 points in a tournament game that night. They ended up losing in four overtimes, blowing a 14-point fourth-quarter lead.

Those kind of things linger and fester.

“That game haunted us,” Mankiewicz said. “We put it to rest tonight.”

Even Fullerton Coach Brent Fair remembered, but he didn’t talk about it to his team before Tuesday’s game.

“If they can’t remember that, then there’s little I can say,” Fair said.

The Indians’ memory was fine, but it took some work. Magnolia (12-14) trailed by 10 entering the fourth quarter, then tested the Indians (15-8) again. This time, they were up to it.

Mankiewicz, Seth La Tour and Tim VanDenburg propped up the Indians and put them over the top.

The Sentinels made the score 49-44 on five consecutive points by Josh Reding. They got no closer.

Mankiewicz, who scored 11 of his 16 points in the first quarter, hit a free throw and had a key steal, which led to a layup by La Tour. Mankiewicz then scored on a layup and fed VanDenburg for another basket.

In three minutes, the Indians built their lead to 59-44.

“When they got close, I thought a little about that last game,” La Tour said. “But when it got down to us shooting free throws, I knew we had them.”

La Tour, who scored 16 points, made four of six in the final two minutes. Ryan Schatz, who had 11 points, made two free throws.

“We got our kids playing the right roles in the second half,” Fair said.

VanDenburg’s job was to score. He had eight in the third quarter and finished with 17. He helped the Indians extend a 34-30 halftime lead.

VanDenburg’s layup with three minutes left in the third quarter started a 13-3 run. He finished it with a layup off a fast break with 14 seconds left.

Reding had 15 points by halftime, mostly on long jumpers.

In other III-AA games:

Pomona Ganesha 53, Western 49--Grant Clark had 20 points and Kevin Colbert had 11 for Pomona Ganesha (13-13), which outscored Western, 29-17, in the second half. Ganesha plays Sonora (22-3) in the second round on Friday.

Troy 82, Phelan Serrano 56--Jeff Sand scored a game-high 30 points, including eight three-pointers, and John Torres added 10 points and six assists for visiting Troy (16-11). The Warriors face Torrance Bishop Montgomery.

La Habra 78, Pomona 74--Johnny Yoo hit two free throws with six seconds left to seal the victory for visiting La Habra (13-13). Dan Ploog scored 45 points, including four consecutive free throws with less than one minute left, and grabbed 20 rebounds.