Big fourth quarter lifts Tesoro past California San Ramon 77-49 in Tustin Classic

Tesoro’s Mike Mahlen is pressured by Ethan Jetter of California San Ramon Thursday (Photo Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)

Tesoro’s boys basketball team had just a nine-point lead going into the fourth quarter of Thursday’s opening round game against California San Ramon in the Tustin Classic.

But the Titans outscored San Ramon 22-3 in the final stanza and went on to capture a 77-49 victory. Tesoro (11-2) moves on to the second round to face Long Beach Millikan Friday at 5:30 p.m. at Tustin.

The Titans made 11 3-pointers in the game.

“We got to pick up our defense, but for the day after Christmas I like how we had a good feel with offense,” said Tesoro Coach Steve Garrett. “And I liked our spark off the bench.”

Kaden Garrett led the way with 23 points and five 3-pointers. Matt DeAngelo had 21 points and three 3-pointers, Mike Mahlen 13 points three-3-pointers and Kyle Ritscher 10 points to lead the Titans, who led 37-30 at halftime.

Garrett was pleased with the defensive play of Ritscher.

“They’re out there pressuring and I thought our defense picked up,” Garrett said. “And we shot pretty well.”

Garrett was pleased with how his team handled the size of San Ramon (7-3). One of the Grizzlies starters is 6-10 Tyler Shaw.

“They’re a long team with a lot of 6-5, 6-6 (players) with a lot of length, so they really forced us to shoot three’s and I think we shot pretty well from three’s,” he said.

“It kind of just broke open at the end. We hit three or four in a row. It was a good game and a good first opponent in the tournament. They should win a lot of games in this tournament. I thought our shooting smarts and how we share the ball out-did all their size. They’re bigger than us in every position.”

Westin Berkowitz scored 21 points to lead San Ramon.

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