Big fourth quarter lifts Foothill past Tustin in annual crosstown rivalry game

Foothill and Tustin players exchange handshakes after Friday’s game. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Foothill’s boys basketball team broke open a close game through three quarters and captured a 57-44 non-league victory over crosstown rival Tustin Friday night in a hard fought game before a big crowd in the Tustin gym.

It was the first game that new Tustin Coach Jonathan Antolin has coached against his former team at Foothill. Both student sections were into the game with Foothill students wearing T-shirts that read ‘Beat Tustin.’

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The Knights (5-4) held a one point lead going into the fourth quarter but turned up the defensive intensity to outscore Tustin 17-4.

“A victory here has never been easy,”said Foothill Coach Yousof Etemadi. “No matter whose record is what, it’s a huge game for the kids and a huge game for the city. They were really good and they’re tough and made the right plays in the first half.

“It took us a little bit to get going but defensively in the second half, we started stepping it up and offensively started sharing the the ball a little more. I liked our fourth quarter tonight. I think we allowed four points in the fourth quarter, we were giving up a lot of easy buckets and offensive rebounds early so we kind of tightened it up.”

Foothill was led by Braeden Davidson, who had 12 points and seven rebounds and Christian Kimlin, who scored 11 points and grabbed six rebounds. Freshman Damir Buckingham scored nine points and had three assists and Magnus Lawson had eight points, all in the third quarter for the Knights.

Tustin (7-7) was led by Taven Epps (10 points), Brannon Hampton (nine points) and Peyton Montha (eight points).

The Tillers battled from the start under their new coach but weren’t able to close.

“There were definitely mixed emotions in that game,” said Antolin. “I’m definitely bummed for our guys, they worked really, really hard, it’s probably the best three and a half quarters of basketball we ended up playing all year. We set the bar for where we can play because we haven’t been playing well the past couple of weeks.

“We had two back to back tournaments, and then three games this week so we really haven’t had a lot of time to practice. Those rebounds toward the end killed us, the offensive rebounds is something we’ve been preaching.

“There was a lot of emotion in this game, but that’s what makes this rivalry special, even more special being able to play against Foothill, it was a great battle, a great game all the way around. The ending score doesn’t really show what happened. I’m really proud of my guys and their effort.”

Etemadi praised the job his former assistant is doing.

“I love Jon, that’s my guy, we talk every day, I’m proud of him, he has got this team playing well, it’s not easy to come in and take over a program after Coach (Ringo) Bossenmeyer and I think he’s doing a good job.”

Etemadi was pleased with the play of Davidson, who punctuated the win with three free throws in the final minute.

“Braden has been solid for us this year,” Etemadi said. “He’s a four-year varsity guy. You could see late in the game he was pretty poised and pretty calm.”

“It’s a very important team win,” Davidson said. “We do it for our city, we do it for our community, we had a really tough week preparing for this game and I’m just really proud of my guys, my coaches, my school, we all banded together to come out and perform. It’s not just about me, it’s about everybody in the whole community.

“It was a really strong second half, we came in at halftime and it was an us thing, I talked to them, we banded together and after that, it was all about energy and what we could control. After that, it was all on the court.”

Foothill has a young team with two freshmen, three sophomores and four or five juniors.

“We only return one starter and two guys who played very little minutes last year, but I like where we are,” Etemadi said. “I think we’ve been playing hard and playing well and we’re getting better every week and that’s all that matters.”

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