Saugus Wins, Moves Into Regional Final, 49-37

Even a football team couldn’t stop the storybook saga of Saugus High’s sojourn through the basketball playoffs.

Oceanside gave it a nice try. It’s a wonder someone didn’t think of it sooner.

The Saugus football team was 0-10 last fall. And the basketball team had been unbeatable during six Southern Section 3-A playoff wins, performing as if four-leaf clovers were stuck in the players’ socks.

So Oceanside brought along Junior Seau, a 6-5 forward better known for his play at linebacker, which earned him a scholarship to USC, and two other starters from the football team.

But Saugus continued to defy the odds and defeated the Pirates, 47-39, Wednesday night at College of the Canyons in the semifinals of the Southern California Regional Division II playoffs.

Saugus now returns to the Sports Arena, where it won the Southern Section championship, to meet Woodbridge of Irvine at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

“We knew they’d be physical and try to intimidate us,” Saugus forward Rusty Morse said, “but we just came out and played our game.”

Added Saugus Coach John Clark: “Sure, Oceanside is a tough bunch. But our best quality is our toughness--our mental toughness.”

Seau muscled his way to 22 points--more than half the Pirates’ total--but he played the entire fourth quarter with four fouls and scored only two in that period.

For the first three quarters the lead seesawed, with Saugus taking three-point advantages only to give them back. Oceanside led after each of the first three periods.

The Centurions trailed, 33-31, going into the fourth quarter but regained the lead, 37-35, on a steal and layup by guard Greg Weber with 5:30 left.

Weber became the bread-and-butter man in the last three minutes, making 6 of 7 free throws. Saugus (23-9) made 20 of 26 free throws, while Oceanside (21-8) made only 1 of 7.

“We didn’t shoot well tonight from the outside and it came down to free throws,” Weber said. “I don’t mind being in that situation. I’ll take the ball.”

And why not?

After finishing third in the Golden League and losing a two-point game to rival Canyon in the last game of the regular season, this group has become the New Centurions, becoming the first wild-card team in Southern Section history, excluding the Small Schools Division, to win a CIF title.

“We just seem to be able to hang in there,” Clark said. “We get down, then something happens and we’re back on top.”

With the Oceanside zone shutting off Morse inside, Saugus was forced to launch long-range hoop-seeking missiles. Most missed the mark--the Centurions made only 13 of 38 shots.

“If we’d have made our shots we’d have blown it open,” Morse said.

Oceanside, co-champion of the Avocado League and 2-A champion of the San Diego Section, was almost as awful, making 19 of 46 shots. The Pirates did not score in the last four minutes.

Without Seau, the Pirates were punchless. Guard Kevin Hardyway had seven points, Sai Niu had four and no one else had more than two.

Weber led Saugus with 11 points. Morse, the team’s leading scorer with an 18.3 average, had only six, but had 11 rebounds.

“They were packing that zone in tight,” Morse said. “Every time the ball was lobbed in, it was stolen. There wasn’t much I could do tonight.”

There wasn’t much Seau couldn’t do, except win, and after the game he was sporting a broad smile, hand-slapping Oceanside fans who had driven 150 miles to root him on. Clearly, he had taken this team has far as he could.

Clark has taken his team to an inspirational movie before every playoff game. “The Natural” was featured before this one. Several in the “Rocky” series, plus “Hoosiers” and “Victory,” were seen earlier. Clark said he is running out of movies.

“Got any suggestions?” he said.