RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA — JSerra’s boys basketball team secured a third-place finish in the Trinity League by cruising to a 49-32 win over Santa Margarita Tuesday at Santa Margarita High.
The Lions (23-4, 6-3) are two games behind first-place Mater Dei, despite beating the Monarchs last week for the first time in school history.
JSerra lost both games to second-place St. John Bosco this season.
The Lions beat Santa Margarita (17-9, 4-5) 47-39 on Jan. 12. JSerra guard Aidan Fowler had 17 points in that game.
Fowler wasn’t dominant Tuesday, but still had a team-high 12 points in the win.
JSerra’s dominant defense was the story of the game. The Lions held Santa Margarita to a season-low 32 points and caused the Eagles to make just 4 of 25 3-point attempts.
“I think we really guarded in the first half which I was proud of,” JSerra coach Keith Wilkinson said. “We really tried to protect the paint and challenge shooters. We did a really great job of that in the third quarter.”
“Ball pressure was key,” Fowler said. “They run a lot of sets. We knew if we pressured them, they would be uncomfortable.”
The first half was sloppy offensively for both teams and the Lions took a 17-15 lead into halftime.
JSerra went on an 11-2 run in the third quarter to take control of the game away and outscored the Eagles 20-5 in the frame.
“We were doing a good job of getting stops in the first half and in the second half we buckled down even more,” Wilkinson said. “They (Santa Margarita) are such a good defensive team. We got layups in the third quarter and then our 3s went in because we explored the paint touches.”
Godschoice Eboigbodin, who had a double-double the first time the two teams played each other, had 11 points for JSerra. Colorado signee Sebastian Rancik had 10 points despite missing much of the first half due to foul trouble.
Cameron McNamee had 12 points for Santa Margarita, eight of which came in the fourth quarter. Brayden Kyman had eight points and made two 3-pointers.
JSerra has won five consecutive games and will wrap the regular season Thursday against Servite, a team the Lions beat by 27 points two weeks ago.
The Lions are on the watch list for the Open Division of the CIF-SS playoffs and are currently ranked No. 8 in the Division 1 poll. Eight teams are expected to make the Open Division bracket.
JSerra has never played in the Open Division playoffs since the division’s inception in 2014 and feels it has the resume to make it this season.
“I have no preference but it has been a goal for our team to make the open,” Wilkinson said. “I think our resume speaks for that now and I’d be shocked if we didn’t get in.”
“We want the Open Division and that’s why tonight was such a big win because it solidifies us as an Open Division team,” Fowler said. “It would be big time to be the first team in JSerra history to be an Open Division team, just like we were the first team to beat Mater Dei. It’s been a historic season so far.”
Santa Margarita wraps the regular season Thursday at home against Mater Dei. The Eagles will likely be in the Division 1 playoffs as an at-large entry.