Tustin fights through bad start to defeat Valencia

Tustin had reduced early and large deficits before.

"This time," Tustin's Dominic Coulter said, "We came back and won."

The Tillers beat Valencia, 61-56, Thursday in a Century Holiday Classic second-round game at Century. They trailed, 13-0, midway through the first quarter. Then a couple of occurrences the rest of the quarter turned momentum Tustin's way.

Valencia's 6-foot-5, 265-pound center Brian Berkley got his second foul with 3:34 to go in the quarter, sending to the bench a significant matchup challenge for the Tillers, whose biggest starter was Coulter at 6-2, 190.

Then Tustin ended the first quarter with a pair of clutch three-pointers, one by juniorJordan Rodriguez and the other by sophomore Coulter, who made a 23-foot buzzer-beater to cut Valencia's lead to one, 15-14.

The Tillers took the lead early in the second quarter and never relinquished it. Valencia, led by senior guard Noel Larkins, rallied in the final moments and trimmed Tustin's lead to 57-56 on a three-pointer by junior Christian Mack with 20 seconds left. Tustin free throws - three by sophomore Tanner Leonhardt and one by sophomore Ryan Ebel - provided the final five-point margin.

"We had to grit this one out," Tustin coach Ringo Bossenmeyer said. "This is a young group that is maturing every day."

That group will play the winner of Thursday's late Los Alamitos-Palm Desert semifinal in a tournament semifinal today at 8:05 p.m. at Century. Troy will play Glendora in the other semifinal today at 6:30 p.m. The tournament championship game is Saturday at 8:05 p.m.

Coulter finished with game highs of 25 points and 11 rebounds. Leonhardt had 17 points, including three 3-pointers, all in the second half. Rodriguez scored 13.

Larkins led Valencia with 21 points, nine in the fourth quarter, and nine rebounds.

In the Orange Holiday Classic:

No. 8 Canyon 55, Diamond Ranch of Pomona 40: Braden Priest's 19 points led the Comanches (9-3) at Chapman University. Canyon will play JSerra in a semifinal Friday at 6:50 p.m. at Chapman.

No. 4 JSerra 99, Canyon Springs of North Las Vegas 67: Demitrius Walker scored 40 points to lead the Lions (9-3). Alec Williams added 17 points and Chris Gabriel had 15.

Foothill 48, Long Beach Poly 39: Josh Sanchez scored 16 points, and Jacob Marano added 12 for the Knights (10-3), who will play top-ranked Mater Dei in a semifinal Friday at 8:30 p.m. at Chapman.

Orange 44, Kennedy 43: The Panthers rallied for the victory as David Graham scored 11 points and Juan Vega had 10.

No. 1 Mater Dei 81, Hawthorne 61: David Wear scored 19 points with eight rebounds, and twin brother Travis scored 17 with 11 rebounds for the Monarchs (12-0). Andy Brown scored 17 points with seven rebounds for Mater Dei.

In the Katella Klassic:

Irvine 80, Sunny Hills 66: Kiril Sergeyev's 32 points paced the Vaqueros (10-4) in a second-day, pool-play game at Katella.

Servite 58, Magnolia 47:Sean Barganski scored 15 points, and Andrew Ostergaard produced 11 for the Friars. Servite will play La Habra on Friday at 6 p.m. in the final day of pool play. The tournament championship game is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Katella.

In the Coast Classic:

Aliso Niguel 51, Estancia 35: Chad Seymour's 12 points led the Wolverines in pool play.

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com