St. Margaret’s races past Santa Ana in Orange Coast League debut

Russell Frye of St. Margaret’s is guarded by Santa Ana’s Matthew Rojas Friday night. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

St. Margaret High School’s boys basketball team had a successful debut Friday night as a new member in the Orange Coast League, defeating Santa Ana 53-44 at Santa Ana.

Santa Ana (8-1) was without one of its top players, Jack Rivera, who was out sick, according to Coach Zach Johnson. Rivera has been averaging 19.4 points a game.

Emmanuel Lemus tried to pick up the slack, scoring a game-high 25 points, but he and Alexis Neria, who had 10 points, three coming on a last-second 3-pointer, were the only Saints in double figures.

‘That team is really good and he’s missing one of his good players who has been sick and obviously that was helpful for us,” said St. Margaret’s Coach Chris Nordstrom. “No question, we knew coming here it was going to be a really tough game. I’m proud of our guys.

St. Margaret’s was led by Russell Frye, who had 14 points and Cameron Danz, who had 12 points. TJ Pavia and Luke Reikensmeyer had eight points each for St. Margaret’s.

“It was very balanced,” Nordstrom said.

To see additional photos, click on the first picture:

St. Margaret’s (6-3 overall) started fast and led 13-10 after one quarter. The Tartans led 26-24 at halftime but broke the game open in the third quarter to take a 10-point lead going into the final quarter.

Santa Ana cut the lead to 47-41 when Nicholas Chavez made one of two free throws with 1:24 remaining in the game.

But that was as close as Santa Ana could get. The Saints were unable to hit the clutch shots when they needed to.

“We fought and battled against a very good team tonight,” said Johnson, the Santa Ana coach. “They are well coached and played well. We did not play our best game, but we now know what we need to do to play at a high level in our league.” 

Nordstom, the St. Margaret’s coach, said he expects a battle.

“It’s one of those where we’re learning on the fly a bit,” he said. “We have many two sport athletes and we start a little later than everybody. Right now, after game one in league, you have to feel pretty good.

“I think that team is going to be right there and competing for a championship in our league, the abilitity to come up here and get one on that first night is really impressive.”

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