Beckman reaches semifinals of Tustin Classic with decisive win over San Clemente

Abhi Acharya was one of the standouts for Beckman Wednesday night. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Beckman High School’s boys basketball team took command early and went on to defeat San Clemente 54-35 Wednesday night in the championship quarterfinal round game at the Tustin Classic.

The Patriots, under first year coach Lucas Armstrong, move on to the semifinals Thursday night to face Los Alamitos at 7:30 p.m. at Tustin High School.

Beckman led 16-6 after one quarter and 25-15 at halftime before extending its lead to 20 points going into the final quarter of the hard-fought game, which featured physical play.

“It was a hard-fought game, San Clemente is gritty, they’re tough, they’re not the most talented team but they fight hard and I saw that on the film and I just commend our guys for being able to have back to back days of high intensity efforts,” Armstrong said.

“Our performance against Long Beach Wilson yesterday (an 89-59 win) was one of the best of the season and to beat a team like by 30 and turn around the next night and be in control for 99 percent of it, I tip my hat to our kids for battling back to back nights.”

Beckman (9-6) was led by Caydon Do, who had 19 points and Abhi Acharya, who had 14 points. They were the only Patriots in double figures.

Los Alamitos (6-11) was led by Jayden Schnabl who had 15 points.

Beckman was determined from the start to reach the semifinals against Los Alamitos, a team it defeated 64-63 on Nov. 26.

“It was a hard fought game, like coach said, they were physical and they push us around a lot and we’ve lost a few games where we’ve gotten pushed around,” said Acharya. “It feels really good to come out early and jump on them and keep our lead and stay our ground.

“It feels great, we’re trying to string a few wins together before league starts, we played Los Al before and we beat them by one before, so we know them really well and it’s going to be a good game for us to try and beat them twice in one season.”

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