Boys’ Basketball: Sage Hill settles for third in Academy League
The Sage Hill School boys’ basketball team was out of sync from the start in its Academy League matchup against rival St. Margaret’s on Thursday at Sage.
Sage Hill fell behind early and clawed its way back in to the contest several times.
But the Tartans ran away from the Lightning in the fourth quarter and left the Sage Hill gym with a 52 -37 victory in the final game of the regular season.
With the victory, St. Margaret’s (18-6, 10-2 in league) locks up second place and Sage Hill (17-7, 8-4) finishes in third.
“At the end of the day, we just couldn’t make enough shots,” Sage Hill Coach Billy Conlon said. “We missed a lot of layups and a lot open threes.”
St Margaret’s opened the game on a 14-3 run, with Sage Hill’s only points coming on a three-pointer from Alex Toubia.
Unfortunately for the Lightning, Toubia also committed two quick fouls and sat down with 4:40 left in the opening quarter.
The Tartans led 18-9 early in the second when Toubia came back in and immediately nailed a three-pointer, made a layup and got fouled, made the free throw and then another pair of free throws, all within the span of about two minutes.
The senior then hit a three-pointer at the halftime buzzer, getting Sage Hill to within five points and accounting for all 11 of Sage Hill’s second quarter points.
The Lightning then ratcheted up their defense in the third, holding the Tartans to just five points, and were within a basket heading into the fourth.
But that was about all the Lightning had left and the Tartans just drove to the basket and drew fouls for most of the final quarter.
Ten of the Tartans’ 22 fourth-quarter points came from the free-throw line.
“The game got away from them in the fourth,” Conlon said. “We started pressing and taking some uncharacteristic shots for our guys.”
St. Margaret’s won two of three meetings with Sage Hill this season. The teams split their two league games.
“All the credit to them,” Conlon said. “That is a heck of a team and we battled them three games and they love to compete. They were better tonight. We learn from it. We move on and now we’ve got to go compete in the playoffs.
The Tartans and Lightning were ranked No. 4 and No. 8 respectively in the CIF Southern Section Division 4A, going into the game.
Playoff brackets will be announced Sunday and the playoffs get underway Wednesday.
Conlon expects his team to open the postseason on the road.
“Hopefully we’ll get a favorable matchup,” the coach said.
Academy League
St. Margaret’s 52, Sage Hill 37
SCORE BY QUARTERS
St. Margaret’s 14 – 11– 5 – 22 —52
Sage Hill 9 – 11 – 8 – 9 — 37
SM – Campbell 6 Phansalkar 7, Wohlgemuth 2, Cragun 11, Visconti 9, Horgan 17.
3-pt. goals – Cragun 1, Visconti 2, Horgan 2.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
SH – Sadeghi 13, Choi 3, Toubia 14, Biviji 2, Nanula 5.
3-pt. goals – Sadeghi 1, Toubia 3, Nanula 1.
Fouled out – Nanula.
Technicals – None.