San Diego Section 2-A Basketball : Oceanside Tops Castle Park, 66-62

SAN DIEGO —  The Oceanside High School basketball team, battling a tough second-half rally, defeated Castle Park, 66-62, Tuesday in a San Diego Section 2-A semifinal game in front of a capacity crowd at Mira Mesa High School.

Oceanside (20-7) advances to Saturday’s 2-A championship game in the Sports Arena. The Pirates face the winner of tonight’s semifinal at 8 between El Camino and Kearny at Mira Mesa.

Castle Park ends its season at 21-5.

Oceanside built a 37-29 lead at halftime, but Castle Park rallied behind five steals in six of Oceanside’s possessions to trim the lead to 47-46 late in the third period.

Oceanside forward Junior Seau, who paced the Pirates with 28 points, entered the game with an inflamed navel. It was obvious that Seau was in pain but he insisted he play, Oceanside Coach Don Montamble said.

“At halftime, his parents visited him in the locker room,” Montamble said. “I didn’t think he would play the second half, but he said he wanted to.”

Seau sat out the opening minute of the second half and Castle Park narrowed the Pirates’ lead to 37-32. Seau entered the game and, 20 seconds later, scored on a driving layup.

In the first half, Seau was 8 for 10 from the field for 16 points. The Pirates hit 9 of 10 free throws in the final three minutes of the second period.

Castle Park’s Vince Bucca scored 18 points, but only three came in the second half.

Girls

San Pasqual 56, Crawford 51--When Crawford opened its 2-A semifinal game at Mira Mesa High School with a fullcourt press, San Pasqual Coach Brad Merrill and his team were ready.

“Fortunately, (Crawford) pressed us,” Merrill said. “We had been working on that all week.”

With the victory, San Pasqual (19-5) advances to Saturday’s final against the winner of today’s other semifinal game between Lincoln and La Jolla (6 p.m. at Mira Mesa). Crawford, which lost six games for using ineligible players this season, finished at 16-8.

San Pasqual led throughout, building its advantage to 31-23 at halftime. Nicole Rothy of San Pasqual led all scorers with 20 points. Terri Butler paced Crawford with 13 points.

Crawford’s top player, Karla Salmi, scored only nine points. She fouled out with 5:19 to play. Salmi had collected three fouls in the first quarter.