SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Jaxen Turner of Moreno Valley’s Rancho Verde High is rated among the very best defensive backs in the national Class of 2019.
And, as he put on display so precisely Thursday night at JSerra High during his team’s State Southern Regional Division I playoff game with Santa Margarita, he’s among the upper-tier among basketball prospects in the class, as well.
The 6-foot-1 Turner scored 30 points – three of them via a 41-foot, buzzer-beating, game-winner – in the Mustangs’ gut-twisting 57-54 victory over the Eagles.
The eighth of the division’s games was postponed from Wednesday – and the Santa Margarita campus – because of a letter received by the school’s administration threatening violence.
The victory put Turner and Brandon Baker-coached teammates into a Saturday night (6 o’clock) quarterfinal in Temecula with host and No. 4 seed Rancho Christian.
The Mustangs hadn’t played since dropping a 48-46 decision to Pasadena in a Feb. 23 CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinal – 13 days.
And the Eagles hadn’t played since their Feb. 27 home loss to Rancho Christian in a consolation game of the Southern Section’s Open Division.
But the Mustangs (23-10) were the sharper team out of the chute Thursday night – even when both teams struggled to knock in shots in a first quarter than ended with Rancho Verde up, 7-3.
Sparked by 6-7 junior Jake Kyman (the team’s best all-around player who missed the previous two games with a back infection), the Eagles’ offense finally began to get untracked.
He scored nine second-quarter points but his team still trailed at intermission, 28-25.
And that’s because Turner, who committed just one turnover to go with five rebounds and five assists, scored 13 points in the quarter – nine of those coming on shots from behind the arc.
Turner was one of three starters who didn’t play in the first quarter.
“I didn’t have a good attitude in the locker room (after the Pasadena loss),” he said afterward, explaining why Baker had levied the delayed repercussions.
Turner’s on-court leadership and ability to create offense for himself and teammates kept his team in front by five points after three quarters.
The final eight minutes of play were about as good as you’re going to see on the high school level
Kyman (who finished with 21 points, five rebounds and three assists) hit two free throws to tie the score at 45 with 4:30 remaining.
Turner was fouled and hit one of two free throws with 3:11 remaining to put his team back in front before Kyman, taking a pass from freshman Nick Davidson, dropped in a 3 from the left wing to put his team back up, 48-46, with 2:53 to go.
The Eagles got the ball back after a held-ball situation (forced by Santa Margarita’s Brenden Cormie) but Kyman missed a jumper and Turner scored to tie the score with 1:55 remaining, and then Turner picked off a pass and scored in transition to put his team back in front, 50-48, with 1:34 to go.
After Kyman came up short on a jumper and Rancho Verde cleared the rebound and senior Jaishon Forte added two free throws to extend his team’s advantage to four points with 1:30 remaining.
But Kyman, after a pass from Jordan Guest, scored off a short drive while being fouled and converted the free throw to get the Eagles to within 52-51 with 1:07 to go.
A shot block violation gave the ball back to Santa Margarita with a chance to go ahead and the 6-7 Davidson was fouled after taking a pass inside the lane.
But Davidson, who played quite well throughout, missed the front end of the 1-and-1 opportunity with 19.6 seconds on the clock.
Turner was fouled six seconds later and knocked in both attempts to push the advantage to three points.
After a timeout, Santa Margarita got the ball to Kyman and, with the Mustangs’ defense sprinting toward him, Kyman fired a pass to a wide-open Guest on the right wing, who drilled a 3-point with 4.6 seconds remaining that appeared to have put the game into overtime.
“Appeared” is the key word.
After a timeout, Turner worked his way free on the right side of the court after a sharp cut, took the inbound pass from Anthony Thomas, and, after two dribbles in front of the scorers’ table, launched his attempt while being tightly defended by Cormier.
Then came the swish, on-court euphoria by Rancho Verde players and coaches and a whole lot of stunned psyches on the Santa Margarita side.
“Coach (Baker) told us to inbound the ball, try to get a shot up and then we’ll win it in overtime,” Turner said.
“But I told the guys (before taking the floor after the timeout), ‘we’re going to win it’.”
And Turner proved to be a prophet – and one heck of a two-sport standout.
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