SC 54  Tesoro 47
​
​The Tritons lost by 1 to Tesoro in the first round of league and things were not looking good early in the second game, played at Tesoro.  Tesoro jumped to an early 17-4 first quarter lead, and was up 30-16 at half.  But playing without their leading scorer, Jacob Nemeth, who was sidelined with an injury, the Tritons came out in the second half with a swarming defense and clawed their way back into the game.  After cutting the lead to 11 by the end of the third, the Tritons took over in the fourth and outscored Tesoro 24-6 in route to a key 54-47 victory.  While still down by 2 late in the fourth, Anthony Smetona hit a huge three-pointer from the corner that gave the Tritons a lead that they would not relinquish.  Mario Medrano found his way the basket and got fouled for a few huge “and-ones” that cut into the lead.  Chris Kane got fouled shooting a 3 and calmly knocked down his free-throws to cut into the lead.  Luke Powell came off the bench and hit a huge 3 to cut into the lead.  Jay Baggs’ pressure defense helped keep the Titons to only 6 points in the fourth.  Max Marshall and Josh Walker fought minor foul trouble but managed to stay in the game and controlled the inside against Tesoro’s bigs.  Nick Martino and Zeeshan Ihani had key buckets, rebounds and defense.  The bench kept the team in the game and never gave up.  In other words, in a total team effort, the Tritons staged and epic comeback to move to 3-2 in league, with 3 to play.  The final scoring statistics are believed to include Smetona with 15; Kane 11; Marshall 8 and Medrano 8; Powell 5; Ihani 4; Walker, Martino and Baggs 2.  The tritons play at Trabuco on Wednesday, and have Aliso Niguel at home on Friday for Senior Night. 

SC 55  Trabuco Hills 42
​
​After a 1-point loss to Tesoro in the South Coast League opener, the Tritons bounced back with a convincing 55-42 win over Trabuco Hills, the 6th ranked team in Orange County.  Solid team play allowed San Clemente to withstand a barrage of 3’s from Trabuco in the 3rdquarter, to pull away in the fourth for the win, and even their league record at 1-1.  Jacob Nemeth was held scoreless in the first half, but led the scoring with 18 points in the second.  Rebound machines Chris Kane (11 rebounds, 5 points) and Jay Baggs (10 rebounds, 4 points) helped San Clemente dominate the boards, where they had a 34-13 advantage.  Josh Walker and Max Marshall also controlled the inside, and contributed 7 points each, while Anthony Smetona (8 points), and Nick Martino (4 points) hit clutch 3-pointers and Mario Medrano’s ball handling and 2 points helped put pressure on the Mustangs. 

SC 60  Dana Hills 42
​A balanced offensive effort and stout zone defense helped the Triton varsity team beat rival Dana Hills 60-42 at Dana.  A boisterous home student section couldn’t slow the Tritons, who pulled away from the Dolphins starting in the second quarter and never looked back, taking a 10 point lead into halftime.  Dana’s slow-tempo offense did not result in many good shots as a result of San Clemente’s smothering defense.  Despite the slow pace of play by Dana, San Clemente still managed to score 60, and the entire roster got minutes.  Scoring came from throughout the lineup, including 11 from Jay Baggs, Jacob Nemeth 10, Josh Walker 9, Max Marshall 7, Nick Martino and Anthony Smetona 5, Chris Kane and Mario Medrano 4 and Jordan Slaton with 3, including a nice put-back while getting hammered under the basket. 

Facing a ranked opponent in the Tustin Classic Semi-Finals, the Triton Varsity team got off to a slow start and, despite a furious rally, was unable to recover.  Down 17-6 after the first quarter, 31-17 at half and by as much as 23 in the second half, San Clemente finally found its game and rallied to bring the game within 4 with under 2 minutes to play.  A group led by Nick Martino, who hit a key 3-pointer, Mario Medrano, Luke Powell, Jay Baggs and a combination of Josh Walker and Max Marshall, helped lead the Tritons back toward the end of the 3rd and into the 4th quarter.  The Tritons caught fire in the 4th, scoring 25 points behind four 3-pointers by Jacob Nemeth, but ultimately could not climb out of the hole created by the first three quarters.  Scoring for San Clemente were Nemeth with 20, Walker 8, Marshall and Baggs 6, Martino 5, Smetona, Medrano and Ihani 2. 

​

​San Clemente varsity pulled away late for a 70-61 win over a solid Buena Park team in the opening round of the Tustin Classic tournament.  A trio of double digit scorers paced the Tritons, including Senior Jacob Nemeth with 20, Sophomore Spencer Egbert with 18 and Senior Chris Kane with 13.  Anthony Smetona hit a key 3-pointer to start the late run, and finished with 7.  Big men Josh Walker (9 points) and Max Marshall (3 points) controlled the inside and had several blocked shots.  

The Triton varsity team easily won its home opener 75-39 over visiting Woodbridge.  Solid rebounding and defense, along with an even distribution of scoring, paved the way to another strong victory.  Four Tritons scored in double figures, including Max Marshall and Jacob Nemeth with 11, and Chris Kane and Anthony Smetona with 10.  Marshall, Kane and Josh Walker (6 points) also dominated the boards.  Key play and scoring were also had by Medrano and Powell (6 points each); Ihani and Baggs (4 points); Ames, Young and Slaton (2 points) and Martino (1 point). 
​

​SC faced off against Aliso Niguel in the Semi Finals of the Godinez Tournament Friday night. Every time these two teams meet up it is always a great event and this one lived up to the rivalry. Jacob Nemeth had a season high 29 points in what was a standout performance for the SC crowd.  Nemeth went 5 for 5 on three pointers and 8 out of 9 on free throws, but the Tritons let this slip past them. SC was up 25-23 at halftime and out-played Aliso through much of the game, but some tough calls and 12 turnovers throughout the game kept SC from taking control, and Aliso was able to squeak past SC 58-53.  Josh Walker with 7 pts and 5 rebounds, paired up with Chris Kane with 7 pts and 4 rebounds lead the rest of the team.

​San Clemente continues to roll as they took Sunny Hill High School 57-40 last night in the tournament opener of the Grizzly Invitational. The Lancers were held to only 12 points in the first half as SC out redounded them at almost every opportunity. In the second half of play the Lancers came out more physical and more aggressive trying to turn the tide but they had no luck, they just racked up the fouls which hurt them down the stretch. The Tritons had a well balance plan of attack with 30 points in the first half and 27 in the second as SC put on another strong exhibition of team play and strong defense to keep the Lancers out of the game. Mario Medrano lead the team with 11 pt, Nemeth 10 pt, Kane  9 pt, Martino 7 pt, Walker 6 pt, Egbert 5 pt, Smetona 2 pt, Powell 2 pt, Young 2 pt, Marshall 2 pt, Ihani 1 pt.

Putting down the turkey and looking forward to a new basketball season your 2017 Triton's rolled on to a strong victory in their season opener against Capo Valley Christian by a score of 74 to 48.  Strong team defense and great team play led the Triton's to a comfortable win.  Jacob Nemeth led all scorers with 19 points in a stand out exhibition of offense.  Max Marshall dominated inside and had 10 and Spencer Egbert with 7.  Anthony Smetona scored the team’s first 6 points, and also contributing were Nick Martino with 6, Chris Kane and Luke Powell with 5, Josh Walker with 4, Zeeshan Ihani with 3, and Mario Medrano and Jordan Slaton with 2.  A great start to the season! 
 ​