Santa Margarita Answers Coach’s Call to Perform

Jake Rohe, one of five or six under-publicized players who have made Santa Margarita so successful this year, heard the criticism during halftime at the Southern California Regional boys’ final. And he took it to heart.

Sure, the Eagles led Compton by eight points Saturday at the break at Pauley Pavilion. But the words raining down on him from Coach Jerry DeBusk weren’t kind. Rohe had only two points and one rebound to show for his 11 1/2 minutes of playing time.

“I got on him,” DeBusk said. “I thought Carson Palmer and Ryan Forehan-Kelly were carrying us by themselves and I told Jake, ‘Come on, step it up.’ ”

Rohe listened. He scored 10 of his team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter to help the Eagles win, 60-50. Santa Margarita (31-2) advances to the state Division II championship game Friday night at Arco Arena against Northern California regional champion Santa Rosa Montgomery, a 63-57 upset winner over Mountain View St. Francis.

Santa Margarita appeared intent on making its first trip to a state basketball final. The Eagles bettered Compton (28-7) in nearly every statistical category, including rebounding (a 35-29 edge), turnovers (Compton 11, Santa Margarita eight) and free-throw shooting. Santa Margarita, with Rohe sinking all of his 10 tries in the second half, made 18 of 24 free throws.

The Eagles were better from the field too, making 19 of 48 field-goal attempts (39.6%) to Compton’s 21 of 61 (34.4%).

Santa Margarita took a 4-0 lead 53 seconds into the game on a basket by Forehan-Kelly and a rebound and lay-in by center Dekker McKeever.

Compton Coach Rod Palmer pulled his team’s leading scorer, 6-9 Auburn-bound center David Hamilton, for the remainder of the quarter. Hamilton, suffering from a cold, was 30 minutes late arriving at Compton for the bus trip to the arena, and never played like the guy who had 27 points and 12 rebounds against the Eagles in the Southern Section Division II-AA final, which Santa Margarita won, 71-58.

Forehan-Kelly gave the Eagles the lead for good, 7-4, with a three-point basket at the 4:19 mark of the first quarter. Then the Eagles went on a 7-2 run that ended with guard T.J. William’s fingertip roll-in for a 12-6 lead.

The Eagles extended the margin to 21-8, scoring the first three baskets of the second quarter.

Compton threatened once in the third quarter, cutting Santa Margarita’s lead to 28-24 with back-to-back baskets by guard DeAndre Moore to open the quarter. But DeBusk called a timeout and the Eagles responded with six straight points, four on free throws by Rohe.

“I told them during the timeout, ‘Hey they’ve only made two baskets, that’s it,’ ” DeBusk said. “Yeah, the crowd was into it, but let’s not get excited. Let’s go out and play and we’ll be fine.”

DeBusk said he didn’t just pick on Rohe at halftime, but also challenged McKeever--who finished with eight points and 12 rebounds--to step up his defensive pressure in the team’s match-up zone defense.

But it was Rohe who said he felt the tone of DeBusk’s challenge.

“I was kind of mad,” Rohe said. “I don’t like coaches yelling at me, but the way I was playing, I deserved it.”

Reserve Carson Palmer was exceptional in the first half, scoring all of his nine points in that quarter on four-of-six shooting from the field. Forehan-Kelly scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half as well.

Moore, who has signed to play at Vanderbilt, led all scorers with 21 points. Guard Tito Maddox, who missed all 11 field-goal attempts in the first meeting, scored 13 points Saturday.

DeBusk likened his first trip to a state final as being equivalent to “getting married and watching your child being born.”