ORANGE — The Orange Lutheran boys basketball team started great, had a not-so-great middle and finished strong to beat St. Pius X-St. Matthias 66-64 on Thursday in the second round of the CIF SoCal Regional Division II playoffs at Orange Lutheran High.
Orange Lutheran forward David Manea made an 8-foot runner in the lane with 27 seconds remaining for the winning points. The 6-foot-6 senior finished with a game-high 18 points.
The Lancers (22-11) will play Tesoro (31-4) in the regional semifinals at Tesoro High on Saturday at 7 p.m. That will be a rematch of last week’s CIF Southern Section Division 2AA championship game in which Tesoro beat Orange Lutheran 54-35.
Zion Paleo scored 16 points for the Lancers. Andrew Nagy scored 10 points, Cannon Potter scored eight points with 10 rebounds and John Gazzaniga scored six points with seven rebounds.
Orange Lutheran won its first-round regional game Tuesday over Stockdale of Bakersfield 78-54.
St. Pius X-St. Matthias went into the game with a 22-game winning streak that included winning the CIF-SS Division 3AA championship game. The Warriors won their five section playoff games by an average margin of 29 points and defeated Westchester 70-62 on Tuesday in a first-round regional game.
The Warriors were led Thursday by reserve Tylon Williams’ 17 points. Tariq Bridges and Tyrone Riley scored 16 points each. Douglas Langford scored 11 points with 13 rebounds.
The Lancers bolted to a 10-3 lead and were ahead 29-17 at the end of the first quarter after making 12 of their 18 shots including four of their seven 3-point attempts.
“We came out strong,” Orange Lutheran coach Daniel Dunbar said. “We came out ready to go.”
Orange Lutheran senior David Manea scored 18 points including the winning basket in the final minute of a 66-64 win over St Pius X-St Matthias in a CIF SoCal Regional Division II game … pic.twitter.com/ElbrFsBfPa
— Steve Fryer (@SteveFryer) March 3, 2023
The Warriors battled back…
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