PHOTOS: Tustin captures third place with hard-fought win over district rival Beckman

Tustin earned third place in the Tustin Classic with a victory over Beckman Friday. (Photo courtesy Cesar Padilla / Ocular Photography

Tustin High School’s boys basketball team had a balanced scoring effort with four players in double figures Friday night to defeat district rival Beckman 54-47 in the third place game of the Tustin Classic.

It was a hard-fought, physical battle between the two teams. The two schools are in the Tustin Unified School District. Beckman is located in Irvine.

“They’re playing really well for coach (Lucas Armstrong),” said Tustin Coach Ringo Bossenmeyer. “It’s his first year, but they’ve responded to his coaching. They compete and play hard and play the right way.”

To see the slide show, click on the first photo:

Eli Nyeazi of Tustin goes up for a shot.
Photo courtesy Cesar Padilla / Ocular Photography

Beckman's Sam Evans controls the ball as Josh Birket of Tustin defends.
Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone

Carson Jue of Tustin goes up for a shot as Abhi Archarya of Beckman goes for the block. No 25 for Beckman is Sam Evans.
Photo courtesy Cesar Padilla / Ocular Photography

Eli Nyeazi scored 15 points, Johnny Sagarino and Josh Birket had 11 points each and Osten Achmad scored 10 points to lead the Tillers (11-5).

Birket had eight rebounds and Achmad five rebounds for Tustin, which had 21-18 lead at halftime. The Tillers took charge in the third quarter, outscoring Beckman 23-11.

Sagarino gave the Tillers a big boost when he hit three 3-pointers and 11 points in the third quarter.

“He’s a gym rat, he loves being in the gym and working on his shot,” Bossenmeyer said. “He started out really hot this year and then he went through a cold spell these past couple of weeks but as they say, ‘shooters shoot,’ and his confidence stayed high and I’m happy for him because he earns it with the amount of time he puts in.”

Bossenmeyer was pleased with the contributions of other players, including Nyeazi.

“He’s very consistent on both ends of the floor and his leadership is top notch,” Bossenmeyer said. “I want to enjoy every moment we have with him because obviously it’s his senior year so and with league coming up, we want to make it as special as we can for him because he’s meant so much to Tustin basketball.

“I thought Osten Achmond really had a solid game. He had 10 points but when Josh Birket is out, we’re under-sized and I thought he had real intent to get to the glass and it helped us in the rebounding category.”

Beckman (9-8) was led by Abhi Archarya with 14 points.

Los Alamitos defeated Tesoro to win the tournament.

Friday OC high school basketball highlights:

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