Santa Margarita holds on for 57-56 win over St. John Bosco in Trinity League final

On the final day that high school basketball games were allowed to be played in the Southern Section, Santa Margarita and St. John Bosco engaged in a terrific inaugural Trinity League tournament championship game on Wednesday night at Hope International University.

As expected, the game went down to the final second. St. John Bosco got the ball back with an intercepted pass and called a timeout with 1.5 seconds left down one. With the ball on the baseline, the Braves made an inbound pass to Max Ellis in the key, but the shot didn’t fall, and Santa Margarita hung on for a 57-56 victory.

Drew Anderson finished with 24 points for the Justin Bell-coached Eagles (26-3), who should be one of the top four seeds for the Southern Section Open Division playoffs when pairings are released Saturday. Christian Collins scored 32 points for St. John Bosco (20-7), which defeated the Eagles in double overtime earlier this season.

Markee White scored on a layup with 1:02 left to give Santa Margarita the lead. After offensive fouls on both teams, St. John Bosco had the ball with 23 seconds left for a possible final shot by Collins, who delivered victory the last time the two teams played. Instead, the ball went to Ellis, who missed on a three with six seconds left.

Brayden Kyman made six threes and had 20 points to support Anderson. Kaiden Bailey, the team’s leading scorer all season, didn’’t score but had eight assists.

In the third-place game, JSerra defeated Mater Dei 87-66 behind Godschoice Eboigbodin, who finished with 46 points and 17 rebounds.

The Mission League tournament final scheduled for Wednesday between Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and host Sierra Canyon was canceled after the death of a Sierra Canyon student in a morning vehicle accident. The game won’t be rescheduled. Sierra Canyon will enter the playoffs as the league’s No. 1 representative and Notre Dame No. 2.

In the City Section, Birmingham handed Cleveland its first loss in West Valley League play 74-66. Tekeio Phillips scored 26 points.

Palisades remained unbeaten in the Western League with a 76-40 win over defending champion Westchester. EJ Popoola had 30 points and eight rebounds.

In girls basketball, Lynwood set a state record this week when it won its 30th consecutive league championship.

The Southern Section boys and girls playoff pairings will be released Saturday at noon. The City Section will release its pairings Saturday afternoon.