RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA – Everything was at stake. Two winless teams in the CIF-SS boys basketball playoff pool met Friday desperately needing to win a game. Didn’t matter how, just as long as it was a victory. And though baskets were difficult to come by for Santa Margarita in the high-intensity environment, they were even harder to come by for La Mirada.
Getting good defense and a balanced offense, fourth-seeded Santa Margarita took a step back toward normality with a 68-61 Open Division victory over ninth-seeded La Mirada in the third game of play in Pool A.
Santa Margarita improved to 23-7 overall and 1-2 in the pool, while the Matadores fell to 25-7 and 0-3.
Although winning a section title is not an option after fifth-seeded Sherman Oaks Notre Dame (4-0) beat top-seeded Harvard-Westlake (2-1) to guarantee a spot in the section final, the victory should go a long way toward guaranteeing Santa Margarita a berth in the state playoffs where everyone gets a reset.
The Eagles play at Harvard-Westlake on Tuesday. La Mirada will play at eighth-seeded JSerra (1-2).
Falling behind by 11 points in the first quarter and 12 in the second, La Mirada came out of halftime trailing 36-26 and needing a spark. They got it from Jarrett Cole, who made two 3-point baskets as part of a 12-5 run to get within three points, 41-38, with 3 minutes 51 seconds left in the third quarter.
But Rodney Westmoreland and Kaiden Bailey answered the Matadores. Bailey drove the lane for a 3-point play, and Westmoreland scored a couple of difficult layups in transition. Bailey drove again, and with 42 seconds left in the third, the Margarita lead was back to 12 points, 50-38.
“Compliments to them, they made good plays when they had to,” La Mirada coach Randy Oronoz said. “We cut the lead and got close, but we just didn’t make those couple of shots we needed to get over the hump.”
Westmoreland finished with only 7 points, but his timing couldn’t have been better.
“I thought when he got those points it was really, really big, a really crucial time for us,” Eagles coach Justin Bell said.
Bailey was the game’s leading scorer with 22 points. His five points in the third quarter came in a span of 2:09 sandwiched around Westmoreland’s heroics.
“It’s a game of runs,” Bailey said. “They were on a run and we gathered ourselves and said that’s what we’ve got to do. It starts with defense.”
The first of Westmoreland’s layups came after a blocked shot on the other end, and the next came 20 seconds later after a missed 3-pointer.
Trailing 50-40 going into the fourth quarter, La Mirada scored the first two baskets of the fourth to pull to withing 50-44. And though Cole had another 3-pointer in him at 5:01 to pull withing 54-49 with 5:01 to play, Bailey scored the next four points to push the lead back to nine, 58-49.
The closest La Mirada got after that was seven points on Gomez’s 3-pointer in the waning seconds.
“When the game gets tight at the end, that’s when I feel my best,” Bailey said. “How can I make plays? The guys on the team trust me, the coaches trust me to go score. That’s my role here.”
It’s a role he excels at. Complementing Bailey were Bryden Kyman with 15 points, Dallas Washington 14, and Drew Anderson with 10 to go with his 13 rebounds.
Gene Roebuck scored 17 for La Mirada before fouling out with 51 seconds remaining, and Julien Gomez scored 16, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Cole and M.J. Smith had 9 apiece.
Bailey said his team’s improved performance began at Wednesday morning’s practice following Tuesday night’s 67-59 loss to Notre Dame. The Eagles worked hard, and it finally paid off with a playoff victory.
“I think we play in the toughest league in the nation and this is the toughest tournament,” said Bell, whose team shared the Trinity League title with St. John Bosco. “The honest truth is that the Trinity League is very tough, there are no bye weeks. You play everyone two times. You’ve got to be locked in for five weeks straight. When it’s over, I think the natural tendency is to take a little breath. In the Open Division, you don’t get to take a breath. We’re now getting closer to our standards of what we want to do.”
And if the Eagles return to normal and get a berth in the state playoffs, they might have a chance to really spread their wings.
