ANAHEIM – The road to redemption sometimes isn’t easy.
Just ask Santa Margarita’s boys basketball team.
The top-seeded Eagles needed a late surge to defeat No. 3 Brea Olinda, 53-46, to capture the CIF-SS Division 3AA title at Honda Center on Saturday night.
The Eagles (23-8) lost to Damien of La Verne, 54-40, in last season’s final but used some late heroics to hold off the Wildcats (23-10).
Senior Joe Furstinger sank a 3-pointer from the top of the arc to snap a 46-46 tie with 2:09 left in the fourth period.
After a corner 3-pointer by Brea Olinda’s Sam Choi rattled in and out and the follow layup by Michael Turner narrowly rolled off the rim, Santa Margarita point guard Devonte Klines scored on a drive with about 1:18 left for a 51-46 lead.
Santa Margarita’s Colin Ferrier then stole an inbounds pass near midcourt and made a breakaway layup for a 53-46 lead with 18 seconds left. The basket capped Santa Margarita’s 7-0 run to the close the game and clinch its sixth section title.
“It feels real good to come this far,” said Klines, who scored a game-high 15 points and added five assists.
“It shows we finished unfinished business. They (Brea Olinda) gave us a pretty good game. We had to keep pounding it inside.”
Santa Margarita’s inside combination of Sjur Berg and Furstinger helped the Eagles open a 41-31 lead going into the fourth.
Santa Margarita went on a 9-0 run in the third that included a go-ahead basket in the post by Berg on a pass from Furstinger.
The Eagles then closed the third with a 5-0 run that included a 3-pointer from Ray Shou with with 2:43 left and a dunk by Furstinger on a pass from Klines with six seconds left.
Santa Margarita’s 41-31 lead going into the fourth was its largest of the game but the Wildcats stormed back in the fourth. Brea Olinda used a 10-0 spurt to knot the score, 46-46, with 2:51 left. It was the fifth tie of the game.
Point guard Chandler Ramos sparked the run with a 3-pointer with 4:37 left and then a layup that drew a foul. Ramos sank the foul shot to trim Santa Margarita’s lead to 46-44 with 4:02 left and Jonathan Wallace made two more foul shots to tie the score, 46-46, with 2:49 left.
Wallace finished with 12 points to pace Brea Olinda’s attack.
The score was knotted, 26-26, at halftime after a steal and breakaway layup by Wallace in the final seconds.
The basket helped the Wildcats cool off the Eagles. Brett Oosdyke made consecutive 3-pointers from the top of the arc in the final 1:40 to give the Eagles a 26-24 advantage.
Santa Margarita used excellent ball movement to find Oosdyke free for the first one. Klines drove and threw a cross-court pass to the corner to Ferrier, who threw a quick pass to Oosdyke.
Brea Olinda made 10 of 26 field goals (38 percent) in the first half for a slightly better percentage than the Eagles (9 of 28, 32 percent).
Furstinger finished with 16 rebounds and two blocks while Turner had eight points and five blocks.
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com