Trinity League opener was even better than anticipated

• Tweet

• Tweet

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA – In one of the few instances in which something that was eagerly anticipated exceeded the pre-event hyperbole, the St. John Bosco High basketball team knocked off Trinity League opponent and host Santa Margarita Friday night.

And the Braves needed every bit of the late-clock heroics of Christian Collins, as well as marvelous performances from guys rarely in the Southland spotlight and a couple of overtimes, to come away with the 74-73 decision in a showdown of two of the state’s best teams.

The 6-foot-9 Collins – enduring a beyond-rare (for him) off-shooting effort – missed 10 of his first 15 shots from the field.

*But his point-blank, rebound and follow from the left side of the lane of a Max Ellis missed floater a fraction of a second before the buzzer tied the score at 62 at the end of regulation.

*Collins was dribbling his way into a potential game-winning shot toward the end of the first four-minute extra period, but Eagles’ guard Kaiden Bailey ripped the ball out of his hands to force the second OT.

*That is when Collins and his teammates (12-4 overall after the league-opening win) finally closed out the win over the hosts (19-3 overall).

Collins (pictured/20 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists) put the Braves up, 70-68, on two free throws with 2:29 to go.

The lead was at four when, after a missed shot by the Eagles, center Howard Wu hit a cutting Ellis for a layup with 1:15 to play.

Bailey (29 points, on nine of 19 from the field plus five rebounds and six assists) hit both free throws after being fouled by Collins – his teammate with the Why Not EYBL 17s team last spring and summer – with 1:03 to go.

After a miss by Dom Perfetti and rebound by Drew Anderson (20 points, on nine of 14 shooting including two 3s, eight rebounds and two blocked shots), the Eagles had a chance to tie the score, but Markee White couldn’t convert in transition.

With the shot-clock about to expire, Collins was isolated on the right wing against Anderson.

The Oregon State-bound Anderson couldn’t have defended him any tighter or sounder but Collins – with his long arms and quick release – converted a short jumper with 7.4 seconds to go, rendering Brayden Kyman’s buzzer-beating 3 moot.

Seemingly everyone who got into the game Friday night played well.

And, despite the presence of a likely McDonald’s All-American in Collins (who was also selected to the USA Nike Hoop Summit all-star team earlier Friday), the Braves would not have pulled it out without a multitude of quality performances.

Notable among those were seniors Wu (the 7-footer was often the focal of the team’s offense, and Collins’ passes, with 15 points, six rebounds and three assists), Tariq Iscandari (the Corona Centennial transfer had 13 points, including three 3s), point guard Gavin Dean-Moss (15 points and three assists) and Ellis (two of his three buckets came in the overtimes).

The Eagles and Braves were No.’s 2 and 5, respectively, in the most recent CIF Southern Section computer ratings and – barring something beyond “unseen” – both will be in the Open playoff field again next month.

But, with the Trinity League using a tournament to designate its three automatic playoff qualifiers this season while using just one round (five games) instead of a traditional round-robin, a rematch isn’t likely to come until the semifinals or championship game (Feb. 3, at Concordia University) of the tournament.