Santa Margarita Gets Past Redondo Union

Please don’t wake the Eagles yet. Santa Margarita is enjoying its dream basketball season too much to let it go.

They knocked off Compton for the Division II-AA title. And the roll has continued in the Southern California regional semifinals, where the Eagles won their second playoff game, defeating Redondo Beach Redondo Union, 68-60, in front of an estimated 1,900 at Santa Margarita.

On the strength of 20 points by forward Ryan Forehan-Kelly and 15 by guard T.J. Williams, the Eagles will advance to UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion Saturday with a 30-2 record and try to win their first state championship berth. They will get a rematch with Compton, which upset two-time defending state champion Compton Dominguez Thursday.

“We’ve had this slogan all week--get to Saturday and take our shot,” Eagle Coach Jerry DeBusk said. “We’ll have to play smart. But play like we’ve played to get to Pauley, and take our shot.”

Redondo Union erased a 39-24 halftime deficit by going on a 19-4 run to start the third quarter. Redondo guard Marcus Moore, who had 20 points, and off guard Brian Morris (who had 12 before fouling out), led the charge with 14 of the 19 points.

Redondo Union, which could not disrupt Santa Margarita’s rhythm in the first half with its full-court press, also started the quarter with an aggressive man-to-man defense that flustered the Eagles into some hurried shots.

“I had told the team at halftime our goal was to reduce the lead by a point a minute in the second half, then steal it in the last 30 seconds,” Sea Hawk Coach Jim Nielsen said. “But we got hot, and they went into their only lull of the game.”

“I had told the team to expect some runs by Redondo,” DeBusk said. “But we couldn’t withstand it. Moore is so quick off the dribble, he was just shredding us defensively.”

Redondo, which shot 63% on the night (33 of 52) had a couple of chances to take the lead, but missed a couple of layups. “I don’t know if it would have changed the outcome but it really would have made them think,” Nielsen said.

Santa Margarita regrouped to take a 49-45 lead after three quarters, expanded it to 63-52 with 1:39 left to play, and never let the Sea Hawks get closer than five points after that.

Eagle center Dekker McKeever had 13 points and eight rebounds, and spent most of the game neutralizing Redondo Union center Andrew Zahn. Zahn, a 6-9 sophomore, who was the Sea Hawks’ leading scorer at 20 points per game, scored only nine (with nine rebounds) Thursday and only three points in the second half.

Santa Margarita forward Jake Rohe, not noted for scoring, had 12 points and nine rebounds, six of which came in the second half.

Santa Margarita made 23 of 56 shots from the field, including an impressive 8 of 15 from three-point range.

Redondo’s season ended at 29-4.