Eagles Hammer Out Victory Over Friars

Santa Margarita and Servite have secured spots in the Southern Section boys’ basketball playoffs and Mater Dei already has clinched the Serra League title, so the only thing the Eagles and Friars had to play for Wednesday night at Servite was school pride.

Neither should be proud.

In a physical foul fest that caused a bloody eye and was spurred on by a hostile Servite crowd, Santa Margarita routed the Friars, 60-36.

Somewhere in between the 36 fouls, three technical fouls and countless flying elbows, the Eagles (21-5, 4-2 in league) played some pretty good defense.

Santa Margarita held Servite (15-11, 2-4) to 11-of-35 (31%) shooting and forced 19 Friar turnovers.

Servite made just three of 20 (15%) field goal attempts over the second and third quarters, scoring just 11 points in those quarters.

Santa Margarita Coach Jerry DeBusk said the intense atmosphere was based on possible playoff seeding implications.

“If they beat us, then we are tied for second place,” DeBusk said. “Then there is a possible playoff game for us.”

Based on recent history, there wasn’t much of a chance that would happen.

Santa Margarita defeated Servite, 85-44, on Jan. 21 and that was when Servite still had leading scorer Roger Hogan, who has since transferred to Foothill.

R.J. Socci had 13 points and four assists for Santa Margarita. He also had a gash over his left eye caused by a head butt that will likely require stitches. He chalked up the physical play to a good old fashioned rivalry.

“It’s Santa Margarita and Servite,” he said. “It’s Serra League basketball.”

Lenny Collins had a game-high 19 points for Santa Margarita, which scored 10 of its 18 fourth-quarter points from the free-throw line.

John Morris, who led Servite with seven points, fouled out with three minutes to play. Curtis Bibolet fouled out with 4:15 to play in the third quarter. He had four points.