Prep Basketball South Regional : Saddleback Edges Servite to Advance in Tournament

Ah, summer basketball tournaments. Saddleback and Servite high schools found themselves in the Southern California Interscholastic Coaches Assn. south region final Saturday, and neither coach was sure he wanted his team to advance to the tournament semifinals today. Servite Coach Rich Smith was not so sure he wanted to represent the region without his five starters, whom he knew had other commitments and could not play today.

And Saddleback Coach Pat Quinn would not have been heartbroken by a loss. He had a city league championship softball game today.

“It’s kind of a Catch-22 because if you win you have to go to Glendora on a Sunday afternoon, but you get this far and you say ‘Hey, why not?’ � Quinn said.

Saddleback ended up winning, 44-38, Saturday at Kennedy High School.

Saddleback will meet the north region champion--John Muir--at 2 p.m. at Glendora High School in the tournament semifinals, with the final scheduled at 6 p.m.

Servite Coach Smith played his second string most of the game. “Our first group looked sluggish and the second group came in and did the job,� he said.

But things evened out. Saddleback was without three summer starters. Point guard Liem Nguyen had to work, guard Andre McFarland was grounded by his father because of grades and 6-foot-4 post player Marco Gomez sprained an ankle.

And Quinn pretty much neglected his full-court trap that helped Saddleback to a 47-46 victory over top-seeded Marina in the quarterfinals and a 35-point victory over Servite earlier in the summer.

Saddleback never trailed and led, 21-16, at halftime, thanks in part to a miserable shooting by Servite, which hit 7 of 25 shots.

Blaine Patriquin, who scored all six of his points in the second half, helped keep Servite close the second half. His layup with five minutes to play cut Saddleback’s lead to, 37-33. Then Jaime Rosenkranz, who had just entered the game, hit a three-point shot to bring Servite within one. But that was as close as the Friars would get.

Jimmy Galbert of Saddleback led all scorers with 11 points. Angel Barrios scored nine points for Servite.

In the semifinals: Servite 40, Kennedy 29--Steve Marusich scored 12 points and Paul Stapleton added nine on three, three-point shots to lead Servite. Jim Barker led the Fighting Irish with 13 points.

Saddleback 36, Tustin 33--Tustin missed its free throws down the stretch and Saddleback got nine points each from Elton Moore and Jimmy Galbert and eight points from Jason Register.