ALISO VIEJO – Early in the fourth period it didn’t appear that San Clemente’s boys basketball team would need Scott Herrod’s clutch free throw shooting to escape with a victory Wednesday night.
However, this was the South Coast League opener for the Tritons, and they needed every point they could get to finally put away host Aliso Niguel, 64-58.
“That was a great win for us,” San Clemente coach Marc Popovich said. “With them coming off of beating El Toro and our first league game … that was a big one for us.”
San Clemente (10-7, 1-0) pulled away in the third period, establishing a 48-38 lead on a basket by Nick Crankshaw. In the fourth, the Tritons had a 16-point lead over the Wolverines (14-6, 1-1) on two occasions, but then things got interesting.
Aliso Niguel’s Blake Sabol knocked the lead under double digits, 56-47.
Later in the quarter, with the Tritons ahead, 60-49, Aliso Niguel turned up its presssure on defense. That led to a 3-point field goal from Ryan D’Innocenzo and consecutive layups off of turnovers from Christian Lee and Kyle Molner to make it 60-56 with 48.5 seconds left in the game.
On San Clemente’s next possession, Herrod was fouled and he made both free throws. He made two more a few moments later to put the game away.
“We did a great of handling their pressure for most of the game until that last stretch (in the game),” Popovich said.
“I expect every night to be like tonight where you never quite feel comfortable. Up 16, I still didn’t feel comfortable because I know what they’re capable of, and everybody knows it isn’t over until the very end in this thing.”
Sam Darnold led the Tritons with 19 points and nine rebounds. Cade Griffin and Crankshaw had 12 and 10, respectively. Matt Brennan and Molnar had 11 apiece.
“I was happy that we fought back, but San Clemente outplayed us,” Aliso Niguel coach Keith Barnett said. “I was most disappointed with our defense. I thought we did a poor job in transition and I thought we allowed too many offensive rebounds.”
Aliso Niguel defeated El Toro, 66-54, in its league opener last week.
The Wolverines and Tritons meet again, Feb. 4 at San Clemente.
