Sage Hill uses strong second half
CERRITOS — A measly 13 points in the first half are all the Sage Hill School boys’ basketball team produced. The good thing for Sage Hill was it only allowed host Cerritos Whitney to score 13 by halftime.
Sage Hill turned it on offensively at the start of the second half, and in the third quarter alone, it almost doubled its offensive output from the entire first half. Everyone seemed to get involved for the Lightning in the first three minutes of the third quarter, a span in which Sage Hill made its first seven shots to break open the Academy League game en route to a 46-33 win on Thursday night.
Krishan Tarsadia sparked the Lightning at the beginning of the second half. The guard recorded eight of his 12 points during a 16-6 run, capping it with a three-pointer. The three was Sage Hill’s first successful one after it missed 10 from behind the arc in the first half.
Tyler Hague, who led the Lightning with 13 points, also banked in a three in the third quarter. Six players scored a basket for the Lightning in a 23-point third quarter, Tarsadia, Hague, CJ McCord, Chance Kuehnel, Zach Drobenko and Chance Brooks, helping Sage Hill win its third straight, two coming in league.
“We changed our zone offense,” Sage Hill Coach Jeff Beeler said, when asked about the adjustments his team has made since the 59-49 loss at St. Margaret’s in a league opener last week. “We were very stagnant on the offensive end. Just relying on made shots or [Kuehnel] rebounding [missed shots]. We got more continuity, a little bit more motion into our offense.”
Next for Sage Hill (11-4, 2-1 in league) is a home date against Brethren Christian on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Sage Hill has struggled against the Warriors, losing the past 12 matchups. The last time Sage Hill defeated Brethren Christian was on Feb. 1, 2008, during Beeler’s first season at the helm of the Lightning.
Brethren Christian placed second in league last season, behind St. Margaret’s. Those two programs have had their way against Sage Hill, which placed third last season. The Tartans have prevailed in 10 straight against the Lightning, but since the last setback, Sage Hill has won at Avalon, 47-44, blown out Downey Calvary Chapel, 71-33, at home, and defeated Whitney for the fourth time in five tries.
Beeler believes Sage Hill, which won in league for the second time in three days, is ready for Brethren Christian.
“They’re not as strong as they were in the past,” Beeler said of the Warriors, who are 3-12 overall and 1-2 in league, “but they’re well coached and they always scare me.”
“[The league games against Calvary Chapel, Whitney and Brethren Christian] are three games that we really need to get. We got to two of them. Brethren would be a big one at home. It’s been a while since we got them.”
The league favorites this season appear to be Crean Lutheran (14-1 overall), ranked No. 9 in the CIF Southern Section Division 4A poll, and St. Margaret’s (12-4), No. 9 in Division 5AA. Both programs are 3-0 in league, ahead of Sage Hill.
Sage Hill gets its first look at the Saints on Tuesday, when it travels to Crean Lutheran. The two upcoming games for the Lightning will be tougher than the one against Whitney, which dropped to 0-3 in league.
Whitney couldn’t keep Kuehnel off the boards all evening. The junior center gave the Lightning second-chance opportunities, grabbing nine offensive rebounds.
Sage Hill probably wouldn’t have scored 13 in the first half if Kuehnel had not crashed the boards on the offensive end, leading to five Lightning points. Kuehnel, who also had nine points and two blocks, kept asking Sage Hill’s statistician how many rebounds he had. At the end, Kuehnel wound up with 14 rebounds, one more than the number of points Sage Hill mustered in the first half.
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Academy League
Sage Hill 46, Whitney 33
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Sage Hill 9 – 4 – 23 – 10 — 46
Whitney 6 – 7 – 10 – 10 — 33
SH – Hague 13, Tarsadia 12, Kuehnel 9, McCord 6, Drobenko 2, Nark 2, Brooks 2.
3-pt. goals – Hague 1, Tarsadia 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
W – Flores 9, Han 6, Liebenau 6, Hardrict 4, Barnett 4, Thomas 2, Simbol 2.
3-pt. goals – None.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
