RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA – You would expect it from Kaiden Bailey. The 21 points, the three 3-pointers in the first quarter, the hair.
But Jacob Sears? Not so much. But that’s what you get with Santa Margarita’s boys basketball team.
The stars shine and the subs become heroes.
In the first round of pool play in the Open Division of the CIF Southern Section playoffs, the stars aligned and Sears scored 17 points as second-seeded Santa Margarita scored an 81-71 victory at home over Damien.
The 10th-seeded Spartans were game in defeat. They were down by 21 in the third quarter but clawed their way to within 10 with 1:27 to play.
They couldn’t keep up with the explosive nature of the Santa Margarita offense. When Damien scored 21 points in the third quarter, its 14-point halftime deficit grew to 17 points, 57-40.
“They’re really good, hard to play against,” Damien coach Michael LeDuc said. “We didn’t shoot the ball well early. We battled, and I appreciate that, but you have to play great against a great team. We played good, but we didn’t play great.
“In the first half, when we aren’t making shots and letting that lead stretch, you’re chasing them and they’re not easy to chase. We battled back. We weren’t playing much defense in the third quarter, which was really hurting us. But they’re also hard to guard.”
“Hard to guard” is often a losing proposition. It’s tough enough when Bailey gets his 21 points, and Brayden Kyman and Markee White get 13 apiece. Those numbers are somewhat expected.
But when Sears comes off the bench and drops a career-high 17 in the playoffs, it can make for a pretty rough night for opponents in the Eagles Nest.
“My teammates gave me a good opportunity to score and that’s how I got my flow going,” said Sears, a 6-foot-4 senior guard who had one of the night’s exclamation points with a dunk with 4:27 remaining for a 67-52 lead.
It was the last field goal for Santa Margarita, which closed the quarter going 14 of 20 from the free throw line.
“It’s amazing to be on a team like this,” Sears added. “I got a great group of friends. My teammates are like brothers, and they’re all really good, and I love playing with these guys.”
Santa Margarita improved to 27-3 overall. The Eagles will next play host to No. 7 Harvard-Westlake of Studio City on Tuesday, Feb. 17.
Damien (26-4) will play at Harvard-Westlake on Friday.
Elijah Smith led Damien with 25 points, and Eli Gardner added 21. They were the only Spartans in double figures.
Santa Margarita, which has won seven Southern Section titles, is vying for its first since 2019 and its first state title since 2011.
In Bailey, the Trinity League MVP last year, the Eagles have a special player.
The senior made three 3-point baskets in four minutes as the Eagles built an 11-2 lead.
They led 11-7 after one quarter, and White’s seven points in the second quarter helped extend the margin to 33-19, punctuated by Sears’ 3-pointer just before the buzzer
The lead reached 21 points with Kyman’s 3-pointer, and his layup made it 55-34 with 1:27 left in the third quarter before Damien began its comeback.
When it was suggested to Bailey that the Eagles have a chance to give the school a basketball title to go along with the championship it won in football in the fall, he was well aware of how the school is doing this year.
“Our girls volleyball and golf won CIF championships too,” he said. “There’s a lot of school pride. A lot of people excited to come to the game and excited to watch and cheer, and it doesn’t hurt when you’re winning.
“Are we an underdog? I don’t think so. We’re too good of a team. We’ve proven ourselves before. But I do think of us as a team that has a lot to prove. None of us have won a CIF championship, so we do have everything to prove at the end of the day.”