Beeler takes over at Sage

When Jeff Beeler isn’t coaching the Sage Hill School boys’ basketball team, he’s a newspaperman.

Every day he works at his family-run newspaper in Long Beach. He sells ads, edits, and even distributes the bi-weekly Beachcomber.

When it’s time to head to Newport Coast to assume his first-year varsity coach duties, the story is always the same: Get better.

The Lightning early on have been without their two best players, senior shooting guard Jamie McGee and senior point guard Nick Witte. Beeler said both seniors are recovering from football-related injuries, McGee a calf and Witte a groin.

The backcourt mates are Sage Hill’s best hope to compete in the Academy League and finally beat rival St. Margaret’s, the defending league champ.

In Coach Steve Keith’s fifth and final season last year, Sage Hill finished 14-13 and 6-4 in league play, good for third place and the program’s first home playoff game in school history.

With practically the entire team back, the Lightning are looking to go further in the CIF Southern Section Division IV-AA playoffs than last year’s second-round date.

Along with McGee and Witte, Sage Hill also returns starters in senior forwards Preston Oklejas (6-foot-5) and Connor Rose (6-4) and junior forward Troy Astorino. The experience will help the 31-year-old Beeler, a three-year assistant under Tim O’Brien at Northwood, get acclimated faster. Beeler also played for O’Brien at Orange Coast College.

Once McGee returns, Beeler will have a top-tier scorer. McGee, a Division IV-AA second-team selection, led the league in scoring for the second straight year with an 18.4 points per game average. The three-time all-league selection shot 57% from the floor and averaged 5.1 rebounds, 2.4 steals per game.

Rose gave the team a solid second scoring option with his ability to play a lot of minutes, stemming from cross country. He averaged 9.6 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. Witte will averaged 8.9 points and 3.5 assists per game, and the numbers will improve as he hasn’t been troubled by past shoulder injuries.

“Right now just the groin pull is nagging him,” Beeler said. “When he gets better, we’ll have someone who can distribute the ball.”

Sage Hill has senior leadership from eight seniors. If there’s one thing Beeler said he learned from working with O’Brien, it’s that experience is vital.

“Just about everything I know I got from him,” said Beeler, who went on to play at Cal State Dominguez Hills. “One of the main things he taught me was to build relationships with your players because without them he said you don’t really have anything. So I talk to my players often and listen to what they have to say.”

The team input so far has encouraged Beeler to stick to the motion offense of recent years.

But other styles of play will differ as Beeler said the team will use more man-to-man defense rather than switch when a pick is set. There might be some zone, too, something Keith stayed away from.

“Even though I’m working at the paper, my passion is basketball,” Beeler said. “I started coaching when I was 20 at [my alma mater Long Beach] Wilson as I coached the sophomore team. I need to get my teaching credential because I want to eventually be an on-campus coach. We’ll see if Sage Hill is the right fit.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at david.carrillo@latimes.com.