Santa Margarita Keeps Its Pledge

The quest is complete.

The pledge that nine Santa Margarita seniors made as freshmen--to play for a Southern Section title at the Pond their senior season--came true Saturday against Riverside North in the Division II-AA title game. Most important to the Eagles, they won, 60-53, in front of 8,009.

In claiming their second section title in the past three years (Santa Margarita won the Division III-AA title in 1994 against Servite), the Eagles held off the Huskies thanks to 29 points from senior guard Dennis Keane, and a mobile, stingy defense that kept North clanking at a 35.3% rate from the field (18 of 51) for its lowest point total of the season.

Keane, who described himself as “a skinny guy who walks kind of dorky,” was the hottest thing going at the Pond, sinking nine of 12 from the field and making 10 of 12 free throws. His all-around game included five rebounds, four assists and three steals.

He made his first shot--his only three-point attempt--only 30 seconds into the game and felt from that moment he was in for a big day.

“When you see the first one go in, it gives you so much confidence,” Keane said. “You just feel right, feel in a flow and you want to stay there.

“Was it my best game? Well, I’ve never had a better one that meant so much.”

Santa Margarita Coach Jerry DeBusk paid tribute to Keane and the other seniors who have known each other since the sixth grade.

“This [title game] was all they talked about since the ninth grade,” DeBusk said. “I told them today was their dream come true. I know just how badly they wanted to win this. I am so proud of them.”

Though the Eagles (23-6) followed their game plan perfectly, outrebounding the more agile Huskies 26-18 and shooting 55.6% from the field (20 of 36), they would need every ounce of Keane’s big day.

Despite two early second-half leads of 13 points, the Eagles, who led at halftime, 26-22, were never able to apply the knockout punch.

That’s because Keane wasn’t getting much offensive help. Center Allen Krist had 11 points and 11 rebounds, but spent most of his day trying to neutralize North forward Chris Claiborne. On that end he was successful; Claiborne, averaging 15 points before the game, was three of 11 from the field and scored only 10 points.

“He’s a monster inside,” Krist said of Claiborne. “But defense has been a key for us all season.”

And while North was struggling from the field, it never panicked, perhaps because the Huskies were making their sixth consecutive finals appearance. When Santa Margarita polished off a 13-4 spurt to go ahead, 39-26, in the middle of the third quarter, North (22-7) responded with a closing 11-2 run to stay within four points.

The Huskies and their full-court press, responsible for the bulk of the Eagles’ 23 turnovers--”a high total for us,” DeBusk would later note--continued to chase Santa Margarita in the final quarter.

They got as close as 51-50 with 1:36 to play on a three-pointer by Ron Baldwin, who led North with 14 points. Baldwin, who was four of nine from three-point range, made his final three-pointer with 29 seconds left to make it 57-53. But Santa Margarita made three of its last four free-throw attempts to secure the victory.

The loss was particularly difficult for Claiborne, who is headed to USC on a football scholarship and said he would not consider playing basketball for at least two years.

“I personally take the blame for the loss,” Claiborne said. “They didn’t do anything we didn’t prepare for. But the things we had to do in a championship game, we didn’t do early. And then we couldn’t come back.”

When asked about the “skinny guy who walks kind of dorky,” Claiborne said, “Keane? That guy’s a stud. You didn’t see that kind of ability on film, but he showed it to us today.”