Santa Margarita Overcomes Sloppiness to Defeat Jesuit

Jerry DeBusk apologized to anyone who saw Santa Margarita play Wednesday night. DeBusk knows those in attendance at the Torrey Pines National Prep Classic must have wondered how the Eagles entered the game undefeated and ranked second in Orange County.

But DeBusk didn’t have to apologize to anyone for his team’s resiliency. Despite playing its sloppiest game of the season, the Eagles overcame a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit and squeaked by previously undefeated Carmichael Jesuit, 59-56, before 2,000 at Torrey Pines High.

“We’re gutty,” DeBusk said. “We may not be pretty. But we didn’t fold up the tent and go home.”

Santa Margarita (12-0) led by five points early in the third quarter, but a 17-0 Jesuit run had the Eagles reeling. DeBusk called two timeouts during the dry spell that featured ugly shooting and even uglier passing and ball handling. During one two-minute stretch, Santa Margarita committed four turnovers and didn’t attempt a shot.

“We had not looked like that all this season,” DeBusk said. “But we hadn’t played a team as quick and physical. They made us look as bad as we did.”

The Eagles trailed, 50-42, with just over three minutes left and 53-48 with under two minutes left, but a full-court press and the three-point shooting of forward Brandon Rohe (18 points) brought the Eagles back. Rohe’s three-pointer, his third of the fourth quarter, gave Santa Margarita its first lead, 55-53, since early in the second quarter.

Jesuit (9-1) countered with a three-pointer by forward Jake Stanfill to take a 56-55 lead with 46 seconds left. But Santa Margarita regained the lead, 57-56, with 23 seconds left when guard Travis Smith (13 points) tipped in Rohe’s missed three-point attempt.

With eight seconds left, Jesuit center Maurice Tyree was fouled as he drove the baseline. But he missed the front end of a one and one. Rohe grabbed the rebound and made both foul shots after being fouled. Stanfill’s three-pointer to tie it was three feet short.

“We were mad at our guys most of the night,” DeBusk said. “Fortunately, we threw the press on them and got lucky. They started to fall apart a little.”

The Eagles will play Mesa (Ariz.) Dobson, a 90-73 winner over Los Angeles Fairfax, at 4 p.m. today in the second round.

In other tournament games:

Los Alamitos 58, Sylmar 38--Senior center Brian Rakusin scored 29 points for Los Alamitos, which opened a 34-15 halftime lead and cruised to the first-round win. The Griffins (6-5) will face Ocean View today in the second round.

Ocean View 63, Oakland Fremont 51--Marques Crane had 26 points and 14 rebounds and Torin Beeler had 21 points and 14 rebounds for Ocean View (8-2).