San Juan Hills holds off late charge by Dana Hills to capture Luis Macias Tournament title

San Juan Hills players and coaches celebrate after winning the tournament title Saturday. (Photos; OC Sports Zone, Tim Burt).

San Juan Hills High School’s boys basketball team, the defending CIF 2A champion, is off to another great start.

The Stallions won their fourth in a row, defeating Dana Hills 72-67 Saturday afternoon in the championship game of the Luis Macias Tournament at Santa Ana High School. It’s the first 4-0 start for the program.

San Juan Hills was led by tournament MVP Rylan Kies, who had 21 points and all-tournament player Mason Hodges who had 18 points.

“We’re definitely happy with the start, especially having a very young and very inexperienced team,” said San Juan Hills Coach Jason Efstathiou.

To see more photos, click on the first picture:

Dana Hills was led by sophomore guard Collin Haugh, who scored 31 points and made five 3-pointers. Haugh, who is averaging 31 points, scored 41 points and made 10 3-pointers in a win over Calvary Chapel earlier in the week. Logan Scodeller added 15 points, all on 3-pointers for the Dolphins (3-1).

San Juan Hills led by 10 at halftime and 56-43 after three quarters. The Stallions extended their lead to 66-50 early in the fourth quarter before Dana Hills staged a big comeback, forcing turnovers and cutting the lead to 67-64 on a 3-pointer by Scodeller with 1:30 left.

But San Juan Hills regrouped and held on for the win.

Efstathiou said the Stallions inexperience showed in the final minutes but credited Coach Tom Desiano’s Dana Hills team for battling hard.

“We were looking like we were a little nervous in the moment and Dana is such a solid team and they shoot the ball so incredibly well, we told our guys literally with three minutes left and we’re 16, these guys are the kind of team that can eliminate this lead in about a minute and they did that and it was pretty dang scary,” Efstathiou said. “I was glad our players were still able to come through with it.”

Efstathiou was pleased with the efforts of Kies and Hodges.,

Kies has been the Stallions point guard.

“He’s a real good foundation of our team,” Efstathiou said. “Everything kind of goes through him offensively and defensively, he really takes that leadership.”

Hodges started fast with 10 points in the first quarter.

“He’s doing a great job and he’s continuing to improve and get better, he’s been really great as far as being a team captain for our team and showing leadership for only being a sophomore. With his size and skillset, he’s really helping our team quite a bit,” the coach said.

Efstathiou was pleased with the contributions of several other players.

“Sophomore Trey Webb came out and hit a couple three’s and Jack Monarek, who is a junior for us, came out and shot the ball pretty well and we thought we got good defense off the bench from another sophomore Adam Aziz,” the coach said.

The Stallions have started fast out of the gate but their coach isn’t making any lofty predictions about the season after the program captured its first CIF title last year.

“We’re looking to learn as much as we can and be as good as possible,” he said. “These guys are very driven, very motivated, some of these guys were on this group last year and just didn’t play and to see some of that leadership, and I think they want to try and show they’re capable of it as well.”

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—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com