Justin Naranjo of Tustin gets ready to pass the ball to teammate Ryan Stading as Brandon Valdovinos of Segerstrom defends. (Photos Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)
Tustin High boys basketball coach Ringo Bossenmeyer has to be enjoying the start of his 20th season.
The Tillers won their third out of the gate, defeating Segerstrom 48-29 in the semifinals of the Santa Ana Garden Grove Four Cities Basketball Classic Thursday night at Santa Ana.
To see the slide show, please click on the first photo
Tustin (3-0) moves on to the finals of the 12-team pool play tournament Saturday at 2 p.m. against the winner of the El Modena vs. Dana Hills game. That semifinal will be played Friday at 6 p.m. at Santa Ana.
“I thought we sustained our defensive intensity throughout the game,” said Bossenmeyer. “Once we started eliminating their back-court cuts and stayed solid and kept the ball in front of us, we made it difficult for them to score on us.
“Obviously, we like the way our players reacted when Ben Ahinaquah went down with a little hamstring pull and the way they responded, it was just next man up and let’s go. Offensively our ball movement was much. much better than it was last night so we’re making progress.”
Bradley Burdick, a 6-2 senior, took his game to another level, scoring a career-high 24 points and hitting six 3-pointers. He scored 13 points in the first half to help Tustin move out to a 23-15 halftime lead. Tustin outscored Segerstrom 13-6 to add to its cushion.
“He’s got the ability to have those type of games,” Bossenmeyer said. “The best part about our team is that it’s not mandatory for one guy to have that kind of game for us to be successful.
“We have different guys who can put the ball in the basket each night so there are going to be nights like tonight when he carries the load offensively like tonight but there are going to be other nights. Like last night, I think he only had three points, but he had nine rebounds, so he will find other ways to help us than making baskets.”
Ahinaquah is listed as day to day after re-aggravating the injury in the first half, Bossenmeyer said.
Ryan Stading added seven points for the Tillers (3-0).
Segerstrom (1-2) was led by Othoniel Tarin, who scored 12 points. But he was the only Jaguar who scored in double figures. Jerson Quero added six points.
“I knew coming into the game, a team coached by Coach Bossenmeyer plays extremely hard and does a good job on defense,” said Segerstrom Coach Brandon Rogers. “The offensive end is where we normally struggle so I just tried to talk to my team about playing as hard as we can and play and as hard as they do.
“I thought we did that for the most part. We just struggled offensively. But I thought our effort was good, we just couldn’t get enough stops and we couldn’t make enough baskets.”
Segerstrom will wrap up the tournament on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Santa Ana.
–Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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