Santa Margarita Tough This Time

The Santa Margarita starters got a reminder Thursday night of what happened last time they played at the Bren Center from the “Blue Squad”--players who run offenses against the first team in practice.

A month ago then top-ranked Santa Margarita played Servite at UC Irvine, shot poorly and lost by three points.

Steve Pearce, a member of the Blue Squad, had something to say about that at the start of Thursday night’s Southern Section Division II-AA game against Compton.

“He stepped up to me and said, ‘Not again, man. Not again,’ ” guard Ryan Forehan-Kelly said. “We just couldn’t let them down.”

Forehan-Kelly scored 15 points, guard Craig Rice had 15 points and 10 rebounds, guard T.J. Williams had 17 points and five assists and center Dekker McKeever, who also got a lecture from Pearce, chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds to lead Santa Margarita to its third Southern Section title of the 1990s with a 71-57 victory over Compton in front of 4,340.

This time there was no poor shooting, sloppy ball-handling or lack of concentration that led to a 46-43 loss that cost Santa Margarita its No. 1 ranking for the rest of the regular season. McKeever, who was held scoreless against Servite, made four of eight field-goal attempts Thursday. Williams hit five of 10 field goals, including three of five three-pointers. Forehan-Kelly, held to a single point the first time in the arena, was five of 10 with two three-pointers and guard Craig Rice connected on five of nine field goals and made three of five three-point shots, including two three-pointers late in the fourth quarter after Compton had pulled within nine points. Santa Margarita was 24 of 48 from the field.

“This is a special team,” Coach Jerry DeBusk said, dismissing last month’s outcome as “a bump in the road.”

“When they were freshmen they were 26-0,” DeBusk said. “We won a [Southern Section] title when they were sophomores and I knew then they were special. What they did tonight against a quality team like Compton . . . it’s the best.”

Compton center David Hamilton, wounded Tuesday in a drive-by shooting in which a passenger in the car was killed, scored 27 points, mostly around the basket. He had 12 rebounds. But he had little support from his teammates, who were a combined 13 of 40 from the field.

A lot of that had to do with Santa Margarita’s match-up zone defense.

“We thought we could play [Hamilton tough] but we would extend the perimeter on the others,” DeBusk said. “Our guys did a good job getting out there and getting their hands on the ball.”

Compton made only one of 12 three-pointers.

The Eagles used an 11-2 run to take a 18-9 lead with 14 seconds left in the first quarter. The only real scare the Eagles had came early in the third quarter.

“They came out in the third quarter and tried to pick up the tempo and force us into turnovers,” Rice said.

Compton converted two Santa Margarita turnovers into baskets and trailed, 39-29, 38 seconds into the quarter.

When Hamilton got an easy tip-in at the other end, DeBusk called a 20-second timeout during which he told his team not to throw away the game because “we’ve worked too hard to get here.”

Later, Hamilton cut the Eagle lead to 47-38 with a three-point play, but then Williams hit another three-pointer and fed Rice with a nice pass for another three-point shot. Rice followed with a driving basket and increased the lead to 12 points.

Compton Coach Rod Palmer blamed his team’s poor start on a bad case of nerves, but conceded that Compton has been preoccupied because of Hamilton’s shooting.

“It had an effect,” he said. “I hoped it wouldn’t but it took us away from the game. This was a serious event that happened. We can’t help it and when one of your family is injured, it affects you.”