Marina’s second half surge subdues Saugus

Mike Sciacca, Independent

Andy Meyer’s name won’t appear in the box score today, but he made

a key contribution Friday in Marina High’s 73-52 home court victory over

Saugus in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division I-A boys

basketball playoffs.

It was Meyer, Marina Coach Roger Holmes said, who made the correct

adjustments at halftime and, it was the assistant coach’s game plan, that

ultimately would derail Saugus’ upset bid.

“Andy did a great job of adjusting our defense in the second half,”

Holmes said. “We were able to force the ball away from their big guy, and

we were able to deny them (Saugus) the back door.”

The Centurions (18-10), the third-place finisher out of the Foothill

League, successfully threw a full court press at Marina in the first

half, and ran the pick and roll to near perfection, which led to some

easy back door lay ups.

With their “big guy,” senior guard Tim Tampus, scoring nine points,

Saugus, which defeated Buena (75-72) in first round action Wednesday

night, trailed just 29-27 at the intermission, and could have forged a

halftime tie had Tampus not missed an uncontested lay up attempt with two

seconds left in the half.

Still, the Centurions trailed the Sunset League co-champion Vikings by

only two at the break, and the longer Saugus was able to hang around, the

better chance the Centurions had at scoring a second round upset.

But that upset never materialized. In fact, the game was decided in the

first 5:31 of the third quarter, when Marina opened the second half with

a 13-0 blitz to take control of the game.

Not only did the Vikings (24-3) shut the back door on Saugus, they forced

the Centurions into missing their first nine shots and three turnovers in

their first 12 possessions of the second half.

By the time Mike Grisanti sank two free throws with 2:29 to go in the

quarter, Marina’s lead already was at 42-27.

“I thought that time frame, right there, was the ballgame,” Holmes said.

“We really came out ready to play in the second half, and the guys played

tough. We did a great job with our ball movement and we really rebounded

well, especially Chris DeLuca.”

Saugus did manage to trim the deficit to 11 (46-35) heading into the

final quarter, but a three-point basket by senior guard Shane Leis to

open the period was followed by a DeLuca lay in off a nice feed by Dustin

Kaatz, then Beau Brown dropped in a pair of free throws, sending Marina

into a 53-35 lead with 6:16 left to play.

The Centurions managed to again draw within 11, this time at 61-50 on

Tampus’ three-point shot with 2:20 remaining, but Brown answered Tampus

with a three-pointer of his own, and Marina was was on its way to the

school’s first postseason victory in eight years.

It was a quite night for Brown, although his 10 points might prove

otherwise. The junior guard scored five first quarter points, but his

three-pointer late in the game was his first basket since hitting a

three-point basket at the 2:15 mark of the opening quarter.

Kaatz, who came into the postseason averaging 22.8 points per game,

scored 29 to lead all players.

Leis, who came off the bench, added eight points for the Vikings.

Tampus led Saugus with 18 points.

The victory was Marina’s first opening round postseason win in three

years, and set up a Tuesday matchup against Empire League champion El

Dorado (24-3), which was a 61-58 winner Friday over visiting California.

A coin flip this morning will determine Tuesday’s home team. Tip off is

set for 7:30 p.m.

In other playoff action Friday, Golden West League champion Ocean View

improved to 26-2 overall by pounding visiting Rancho Alamitos, 84-50, in

a Division II-A first round game. The Seahawks will meet the winner of

Friday’s game between Burroughs Ridgecrest and La Habra next Tuesday.