Nathan Draper (left) and Carson Brown led Tesoro to a victory Friday night. (Photo: Tom Connolly, OC Sports Zone).
Tesoro High School’s boys basketball team overcame a double-digit second-half deficit to defeat Los Alamitos 43-41 Friday night in a semifinal game of the Beach Bash Tournament at Corona del Mar High.
Titans senior guard Carson Brown scored 18 of his game-high 22 points in the second-half to lead the Tesoro comeback and earn the Titans their 8th consecutive win. Brown also pulled down 11 rebounds. Tesoro (11-1) will face JSerra in Saturday’s championship final at 8 p.m. The Griffins fell to 7-3.
“In the second-half, we took good shots, got big rebounds and our defense stepped it up,” said Brown, who has scored 20 plus points in each of Tesoro’s three tournament games. “We have a ‘no-give’ up attitude.”
After a dismal second-quarter, Titans Coach Steve Garrett told his team keep playing hard.
“I told our guys at halftime to keep shooting, we couldn’t do any worse,” said Garrett, referring to Tesoro’s inability to make a basket in the second-quarter. “We kept playing solid defense and I think (Carson) Brown is the best player in Orange County. He’s unbelievable.”
Jackson Canning’s basket gave Los Alamitos a 33-22 lead with 3:15 left in the third quarter. However, the Titans, sparked by two buckets by Brown went on a 7-0 run to end the quarter and cut the lead to 33-29 after three periods.
Isaiah Wempe gave the Griffins a 41-35 lead at the 4:50 mark of the fourth-quarter as he nailed a 3-pointer, but Los Alamitos failed to score for the remainder of the game.
The Griffins also missed five free throws and committed two turnovers in the final 2:22 of the game. In the meantime, Brown drilled two key baskets and Nathan Draper and Carter Johnson made three free throws down the stretch as the Titans finished the game on a 8-0 run to seal the victory.
“We made some adjustments in the second-half, and we didn’t panic under pressure,” said Draper, who scored 11 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Midway through the opening quarter Tesoro was dealt a huge blow as two of their starters, Jake Bennett and Matthew Hanley, both suffered sprained ankles on the same play. Both left the game and did not return.
“I came down on a defenders foot and my ankle folded,” Hanley said. “I’ll see how it feels tomorrow, and I hope I will be able to play.”
Despite the Tesoro setback, the Titans went on a 6-0 run to close out the first-quarter and led 10-8. However, the Griffins held Tesoro without a basket in the second-quarter and limited the Titans to three free throws in the period. Wesley Trevino had a hot hand and scored 10 points in the quarter to propel the Griffins to a 22-13 halftime lead.
“We didn’t rebound well and we didn’t execute and we gave them too many second chance points,” said Los Alamitos Coach Nate Berger. “You can’t win by playing like that against a very good team like Tesoro.”
Trevino had 12 points and Liam Gray added 11 points to lead the Griffins.
JSERRA 72, EDISON 65: The Lions won the other semifinal Friday night to advance into the championship game Saturday night. Sebastian Rancik scored 24 points, Aidan Fowler had 19 points, Jake Stafford had 13 points and Ben Rabara 12 points to lead JSerra (7-0).
—Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone
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