SAN PEDRO – A first-round victory in the CIF Southern Section 4A playoffs Wednesday night earned the Mary Star of the Sea boys’ basketball team a two-hour, 93-mile bus ride to the California High Desert Friday.
The Stars outlasted Newport Beach’s Sage Hill, 70-60, behind a 30-point performance from 6-foot-4 junior Joseph Octave, to improve to 23-5.
Coach Mike Sestich’s squad will make the Friday trip to Phelan to place the host Serrano High Diamondbacks, who knocked off Jurupa Hills Wednesday night, 81-59.
The Stars burst to a 6-0 advantage against Sage Hill (which was to drop to 10-17), Octave scoring four of those points as the result of two of his eventual nine steals.
But the Lightning were able to handle the hosts’ defensive pressure a bit better and, as a result, were able to pound the ball inside to 6-10 and 250-pound (give or take) junior Johnny King (PICTURED).
King hit six of seven shots in the first quarter with a nice variety of low-post footwork and a soft touch to help his squad get to within 17-16 after the first quarter.
The Lightning was still just two points down in the closing second before Octave hit a buzzer-beating 3 – after missing six shots in a row – to put the hosts up by five points, at 31-26, at intermission.
Octave went for 14 third-quarter points as the Stars stretched the advantage to 15 points heading into the final eight minutes.
With most of their starters on the bench (notably Octave) to start the final quarter, the Stars pushed the edge to 20 points before the Lightning surged to within 14 points.
Sestich put the starters back on the floor after a timeout with 3:53 to go.
The visitors got to within 10 points (65-55) before Octave delivered consecutive buts, following his own miss and then bagging his ninth steal and turning into his fourth dunk with 44 seconds remaining.
Octave (12 of 26 from the field, including a couple of 3s, and four of eight on free throws) chipped in with six rebounds and four assists to go with his 30 points while junior Jose Rocha added 12 points – all from behind the arc – and 5-6 senior D’Andrew Lopez scored 11 points.
King hit nine of 13 shots from the field and five of six free throws for 23 points to go with 15 rebounds and three blocks – the last of those of the spectacular variety on a transition dunk attempt by 6-6 freshman Dedrick Allen.
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