Team work highlights state victory for Flintridge Prep boys’ basketball

La Cañada Flintridge — Two stats stood out for the Flintridge Prep boys’ basketball team in its championship loss Saturday afternoon to St. Joseph.

Players not named Dante Fregoso and Andrew Tsangeos combined to score six points, while the team was credited with only one assist by the official scorer.

Four days removed from that defeat, the second-seeded Rebels found their versatility, passing and winning ways by breezing to victory over No. 15 Huntington Park Marquez, 75-47, in Wednesday evening’s opening round of the CIF State Division V playoffs.

With the triumph, the Prep League champion Rebels (22-5) earned advancement to Saturday’s second round and a playoff rematch with No. 7 Saddleback Valley Christian at St. Francis at 7:30 p.m. Saddleback (20-12) barely held on for a 53-52 win on Wednesday over No. 10 Mission Vista.

“We were able to move the ball today and we obviously faced a lot different defense than that of St. Joe’s, so we were able to do some stuff,” said Flintridge Prep Coach Garrett Ohara, whose own scorekeeper credited the team with seven assists against St. Joseph. “We were able to hit some outside shots and get some inside scoring, too. It was an all-around good effort led again by our defense.”

Prior to Wednesday, the last time the Rebels played, they were denied a CIF Southern Section Division V-AA championship by Santa Maria St. Joseph, 63-45, at Godinez Fundamental High on Saturday.

While Fregoso led the squad on Wednesday with 23 points and six rebounds before fouling out and Tsangeos added 13 points and 12 rebounds against Marquez, there were other impressive stats.

The Rebels finished with 18 assists, while the rest of the squad outside of Tsangeos and Fregoso accounted for 39 points.

“As far as the rest of the guys besides Dante and Andrew, we just look to be more aggressive,” said Flintridge Prep junior guard Kendall Kikkawa, who finished with seven points, four rebounds and three assists. “We know that good teams are going to try to stop those guys, so we need other guys to step up and that’s what happened today. We played much better team basketball.”

In regards to defense, Flintridge Prep started early in holding the Gladiators (11-17) to two points in the first quarter as the team raced to a 15-2 lead.

Marquez responded with a 9-2 spurt to pull within 17-11 on a bucket from Javier Fernandez with 5:24 remaining in the first half, but the Rebels answered right back.

Flintridge Prep closed the second quarter with a 16-5 run to take a 33-15 advantage into the break.

Despite a couple of small runs, Marquez never trimmed the deficit to less than 15 points and trailed, 58-36, after an acrobatic runner from sophomore guard Jonathan Le (eight points) before the third-quarter buzzer.

Beau Detchemendy added seven points for Flintridge Prep, while Andres Barragan and Fernandez tied for team-high honors for Marquez in scoring with eight points.

“It’s fun to come out and win this and hopefully we have a couple more games left,” Fregoso said. “We know we’ve got a real tough one next and that should be fun, too.”

Saturday’s game will be a rematch of the Southern Section Division V-AA semifinals in San Juan Capistrano, where the Rebels overcame a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime and defeat Saddleback Valley Christian, 70-67.