BOYS’ BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Poway’s Balanced Act Gets Mustang Applause

With only 19 seconds left in Poway’s 68-58 Division I boys’ basketball victory over San Dieguito on Friday, Kyle Milling went to the basket to dunk the ball.

San Dieguito’s Sean Howard went with him. After Howard was called for a foul, the two exchanged words.

It was the only time all night anyone got in Milling’s face.

He scored 21 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and helped the Titans (18-6) roll into Wednesday’s semifinals against the winner of tonight’s Mt. Carmel-Morse game.

“There’s not one individual on that team that stands out, that’s what makes them so good,” San Dieguito’s Matt de la Pena said after being held to 17 points, 12 of which came in the fourth quarter while Poway’s Mark Wuchner was catching his breath.

“They’re the epitome of a team. Every one one of them plays hard. They’re a well-coached, stable team. There’s not two or three guys you have to stop. There are seven guys coming at you. There are no letdowns.”

“We’ve been preaching (teamwork) all year,” Poway Coach Doug Wealch said. “We’ve been taking measures to do it that way. People don’t always like it, but it’s paid off for us.”

In addition to Milling, Bill Rarity scored 14, Frank Garrett 13 and Wuchner 12 for the Titans.

On top of that, four starters had at least five assists, led by Rarity’s seven.

“Whenever we play well, we play well defensively,” said Milling, who pulled down 11 rebounds. “Our defense wins our games. That’s coach’s main thing. Every team, to win, needs to play good defense. That’s what we do.”

The Titans played superb defense the first three quarters. Wuchner limited de la Pena to five points. De la Pena scored 30 two weeks ago to lead San Dieguito (6-17) to a 68-65 upset.

Garrett, who was in foul trouble, had seven rebounds, five of them on the defensive end.

Poway led 31-22 at halftime, and made 10 of 13 shots from the field in the third quarter to stretch the lead to 20.

San Dieguito began a run in the first three minutes of the fourth that finally had the Titans sweating. Down 54-34, the Mustangs scored 12 unanswered points. De la Pena had 10 of them.

Wuchner came back onto the floor and the Titans held on.

Howard led San Dieguito with 19 points.