Santa Margarita Able to Beat Corona del Mar

Santa Margarita doesn’t fear many stops around the Sea View League, but it does quiver a bit at the sight of the Corona del Mar gym.

That’s because the Sea Kings’ home court has given the Eagles fits in recent times. Two years ago, Santa Margarita scratched out an overtime victory there; last season their only league loss came there.

On Friday, even though Santa Margarita was heavily favored, it took about everything the Eagles had to eke out a 42-37 victory in the Sea View League opener for both teams.

The five-point victory margin was the biggest spread either team managed on the night. The game was tied at 17 at the half and at 31 after three quarters.

What made the difference for Santa Margarita (11-4, 1-0) was a big defensive play by guard Dennis Keane, as well as a mix-up surrounding a Corona del Mar timeout.

With 19 seconds left and the Eagles clinging to a 38-37 lead, Keane knocked the ball away from Sea Kings guard Josh Walz, and got it to Scott Balo, who scored on a layup.

“Actually, I was trying to foul him,” said Keane, playing only his second game since returning from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in December. “But instinctively I went for the ball and luckily I hit it.”

Corona del Mar (9-7, 0-1) called timeout with seven seconds left but didn’t have any. The Sea Kings, who thought they had three at the start of the fourth quarter, actually had two. A fourth-quarter timeout at the four-minute mark was thought to have been assessed to Santa Margarita, but instead was assessed to Corona del Mar.

Balo, who scored all of his five points in the final quarter, made one of the technical-foul shots, and Matt Nickels made one of two foul shots for the final margin.

“It hurts,” said Sea Kings Coach Paul Orris. “I thought we played well. Too bad it came down to a couple of little things. The biggest thing was they got some offensive rebounds. But we got the ‘charge’ calls and they got the ‘blocks.’ I don’t know how [the referees] could tell the difference.”

While Corona del Mar was successful in keeping the pace deliberate, both sides were strong defensively.

The Eagles did a good job bottling up Brian Coleman, who averages 20 points, holding the senior forward to nine points, only two in the second half.

Santa Margarita center Allen Krist led all scorers with 17 points, but made only six of 14 shots.

In other league games:

Woodbridge 68, Newport Harbor 58--Chris Burgess scored 28 points for fifth-ranked Woodbridge (14-4, 1-0), which led, 51-35, after three quarters.

Irvine 58, El Toro 52--Amir Rahimi scored 24 points for Irvine.