The CIF Southern Section Division 2AA playoffs kicked off last night where the Saugus Centurions fought hard against the San Gabriel Academy Eagles, but ultimately lost 59-49 in the postseason opener.

From the start, the intensity was there from both teams as they each applied man-to-man full-court pressure.

The Eagles seemed to be more aggressive and took advantage of the Centurions turnovers to end the first quarter with an 18-9 lead. 

Saugus struggled offensively in their half-court set and couldn’t quite get a rhythm going, which contributed to them trailing all game.

Senior Adrian McIntyre went scoreless in the first quarter but bounced back to finish with 17 points, Sophomore Nathan Perez had 13 points, while Sophomore Davis White scored 7 points.

Eagles Senior JT Langston tallied 15 points, Senior Ian McCloskey netted 15 points, Senior Boubacar Coulibaly had 12 points, and Senior Alassane Sene scored 8 points.

The Centurions competed, however, there were two glaring obstacles that they battled all night: the lack of shots falling and the lack of height on their team.

Saugus ran into some trees down low, with few trees of their own to go up against.

Eagles Senior Coulibaly is 6 foot 10 inches tall, Senior Sene is 6 foot 9 inches tall, and Senior Langston is 6 foot 7 inches tall.

Saugus Senior Cameron Nale is their tallest player at 6 foot 9 inches tall, and Sophomore White is their second tallest player at 6 foot 5 inches. 

Head Coach Alfredo Manzano stated what they could have done better and commented on the height difference between the two teams. 

“Well for one rebound the ball. We didn’t have a lot of rebounds in that first half and when we did get the stops, we gave up the offensive rebound and they scored. I can’t fault their effort they gave it their all, we were just outsized and we didn’t make shots.”

Going into halftime, Eagles Senior Langston threw down a monster dunk with authority at 30 seconds left extending the lead to 40-22. This momentum carried the Eagles over into the second half. 

With this momentum, they led the Centurions 50-31 at the end of the third quarter and simply did not let up.

Saugus could not buy a basket from 3-point range in the final quarter to catch the Eagles and were not aggressive enough in the post against their opponent.

“The game was really physical and I don’t think we took advantage of that. We kind of let their bigs do whatever they wanted down low. I feel we could have been more physical because the refs were letting us play. We didn’t take advantage of that and they did,” said McIntyre.

During the last minute, the coaches emptied out their benches and Saugus still continued to fight even until the last seconds of the game where McIntyre took notice of the team’s “never-give-up” mentality.

“I think we did a really good job of fighting throughout the game. Height was a big disadvantage for us but we never gave up. We kept going even until the last seconds when our bench came in, they fought and we gave it our all.”

Throughout the game, San Gabriel Academy looked more like the complete team to win 59-49 as they move on to the next round.

McIntyre expressed how he couldn’t have asked for a better team to compete with for his senior year.

“We came a long way. At the end of the day I’m proud of my guys, I’m proud of myself and the growth that we’ve shown throughout the season. I couldn’t have asked for a better team and better guys to be surrounded by. It was fun.”

Coach Manzano was very proud of his players’ effort and summed up the team’s overall season from beginning to end.

“A rollercoaster ride.”

KHTS Sports is your place for the 2019 Santa Clarita high school football season and your Santa Clarita Dodgers coverage. Find all the latest news and updates on your hometown schools here as they compete in the Foothill League, Heritage League, Western State Conference and GSAC.