RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA – Santa Margarita did not take advantage of its advantages as much as the coach would have preferred.
The Eagles still exploited their size and scoring options often enough Friday to defeat Esperanza, 67-56, in a CIF-Southern Section Open Division first-round game at Santa Margarita High.
Santa Margarita (21-6) will play fourth-seeded Bishop Montgomery of Torrance (24-2) in the second round Tuesday at Santa Margarita.
Esperanza (25-2) moves to the consolation half of the Open Division bracket in which the Aztecs will play at Oak Park (21-7), which lost to Bishop Montgomery on Friday. All Open Division teams will be in the CIF Southern California Regionals, the qualifying tournament for the CIF State finals.
Adrease Jackson led the Eagles with 18 points. Jackson, a 6-foot-8 forward who signed with Dartmouth, also had 10 rebounds, four of those at the offensive end. Jordan Guest and Kaden Rasheed added 13 points apiece for Santa Margarita.
Esperanza’s Stanford-signed Kezie Okpala scored 24 points. Junior forward Brendan Harrick added 22 points for the Aztecs.
Okpala had to work hard to get his points, making 8 of his 23 shots. Santa Margarita was ready to double-team the 6-8 Okpala whenever required.
“He’s a handful,” Santa Margarita coach Jeff Reinert said. “I can see why he averages 30 a game. I’m thankful we don’t have to see him again.”
Guest also was impressed.
“He deserves to be called the best player in Orange County right now,” Guest said. “He can score, he can defend.”
Reinert was pleased to have won but not satisfied with how the Eagles did it. They usually were taller at all five positions Friday.
“I don’t think we took advantage of our height,” Reinert said. “I thought we shot too much from the perimeter. We didn’t pull it inside and do what we do.”
The perimeter shooting, though, was pretty good. Santa Margarita was 9 for 18 on 3-point shots. Six Eagles made 3s, led by Rasheed’s three.
Santa Margarita took a 15-13 lead into the second quarter, the quarter in which the Eagles took control. Freshman guard Ryan Evans made two 3s in the quarter, five other teammates scored and Santa Margarita had a 13-point lead at halftime.
Santa Margarita was 26 for 55 from the floor for 47 percent. Esperanza was 19 for 57, 33 percent, and was 5 for 26 on 3s.
Contact the writer: sfryer@scng.com
