Brea Olinda's sophomores too much for Servite

By necessity, the Brea Olinda boys basketball team unveiled a four-sophomore lineup against Servite in the second half Friday.

While Coach Bob Terry would have liked to have seen a smoother two quarters, the young crew didn't leave much room for complaint.

The Wildcats (8-8) maintained a double-digit lead after halftime, defeating the visiting Friars, 66-50.

“I thought Clayton Ragsdale carried us tonight,” Terry said of his sophomore point guard, who led all scorers with 21 points. “He took over when Brett (Kelley) went out.”

Kelley, a senior wing, suffered an apparent concussion in the second quarter and did not return. He is the Wildcats' second-leading scorer, averaging 14 points per game.

“I was just trying to attack their press more than I'd been in the past,” said Ragsdale, who had not scored more than 20 points since pouring in 26 in the season opener.

Brea's 7-foot sophomore center Kyle Caudill scored 20 points and led all players with nine rebounds.

“We've got to make our free throws,” Caudill said, after he shot an uncharacteristic 0 for 5 from the foul line. The team as a whole shot 11 of 25 from the line and turned the ball over four times in the fourth quarter.

“You could see our youth at the end,” Terry said. “We had a couple of bad possessions, and we didn't do our job from the free-throw line. You need to put teams away.”

Servite junior guard Richard Supan led the Friars (3-10) with 15 points. - Jonathan Kay

In other nonleague games:

Tustin 63, Valencia 51: The Tillers finished strong, outscoring the Tigers 22-12 in the fourth quarter to win the game despite the efforts of Christian Mack (26 points, nine rebounds, four assists) for Valencia.

Matt Glover and Tanner Leonhardt led the way for Tustin with 18 points each.

Loara 54, Magnolia 40: The Saxons seized control of this game early, racing out to a 29-13 lead at halftime, on the way to the victory over the visiting Sentinels.

Elijiah Weicks led the Saxons with 21 points, and Kieran Saikaly and Howard Guata each added 12.

Nathan Williams had 17 points for Magnolia, but no other player had more than seven for the Sentinels.

Contact the writer: jkay@ocregister.com