Sage Hill’s streak grows
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — One win is all Sage Hill School has to show against archrival St. Margaret’s in boys’ basketball.
On Tuesday, the two programs opened Academy League play at St. Margaret’s, the site where Sage Hill last beat the Tartans five years ago. Coach Jeff Beeler guided the Lightning back then, and he’s still around.
He’s in his eighth season now, and his program has yet to figure out how to knock off the Tartans again. Defending league champion St. Margaret’s defeated Sage Hill, 59-49, making it 10 consecutive wins against the Lightning.
The Tartans (10-4), the No. 7-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Division 5AA poll, keep rolling in league. Dating to the 2012-13 season, the Tartans have won 14 straight in league.
“I think they’re going to be hard to beat in league,” Beeler said of the Tartans, who went a perfect 12-0 in league last season.
“This is always a tough place to play, really tough for these guys. There’s something about the gym and the atmosphere here that’s just kind of hard to get over.”
The second quarter is where Sage Hill (8-4) let the game get away. Sage Hill trailed by four points after the opening quarter, but it went into halftime down, 34-17.
The Tartans outscored the Lightning, 22-9, in the second, getting eight points from Matt Nicholas and seven points from Brent Cahill in the quarter.
The two seniors helped St. Margaret’s produce the final 10 points in the first half. Cahill wound up with 14 of his 22 points in the first half, while Nicholas had 10 of his 16 points in the first 16 minutes.
The one Lightning player who kept the game from getting out of hand in the second half was Chance Kuehnel, the son of Dennis Rodman, a former NBA player. The junior plays a lot like his father did during his time with the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls, teams he won a combined five NBA titles with during his 14-year career.
Kuehnel hustled and grabbed 17 rebounds, a dozen on the offensive end, while finishing with 16 points and two blocks. Fourteen of Kuehnel’s points came in the second half, and he made six of 11 field goals and four of seven foul shots.
“He’s energy in a bottle,” Beeler said Kuehnel. “When he figures it out, he’s going to be real hard to guard. It looked like he even took a little bit of an [initiative on the] offensive [end].”
Sage Hill features another player whose dad has NBA ties. Scott Brooks, the coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder, attended his son Chance Brooks’ game.
In the opening quarter, the younger Brooks drained a three-pointer. The three would be Sage Hill’s only successful one in the first half, as the team missed nine from behind the arc.
Sage Hill, which shot 27% from the field, finally got a couple of more three-point plays in the third. Krishan Tarsadia and Mario Nark each hit a three in the third, and Kuehnel had his own three-point play, converting it at the free-throw line.
Kuehnel cut St. Margaret’s lead to 43-30 with consecutive putbacks at the end of the third quarter. The deficit reminded Beeler of Sage Hill’s win at St. Margaret’s on Jan. 22, 2010, and he relayed the info to his players, hoping to spark them.
“Same scenario,” Beeler said. “I reminded these guys [that] we were down 13 going into the fourth and we ended up winning that game by [two].
“I think that we’ll give these guys a real good run for their money when they come to Sage [on Jan. 27]. I think it’s going to be a different game. The first Academy League [game], just get those jitters out. This isn’t a good reflection of the team that we are and can be.”
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Academy League
St. Margaret’s 59, Sage Hill 49
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Sage Hill 8 – 9 – 13 – 19 — 49
St. Margaret’s 12 – 22 – 9 – 16 — 59
SH – Kuehnel 16, Hague 7, Tarsadia 5, McCord 4, Drobenko 4, Nark 3, Park 3, Corona 3, Brooks 3, Vrabeck 1.
3-pt. goals – Brooks 1, Nark 1, Tarsadia 1, Park 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
SM – Cahill 22, Nicholas 16, B. Murphy 9, Horgan 4, C. Murphy 3, Marko 3, Hermann 2.
3-pt. goals – Cahill 2, B. Murphy 2.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.