The arrival of junior guard Kaiden Bailey at Santa Margarita was supposed to add to the Eagles’ basketball fortunes. A star last season at Crean Lutheran, his transfer to Calvary Chapel to join his coach father didn’t work out, so Plan B was enrolling at Santa Margarita.
And what an addition he is. Bailey made three consecutive threes during a 15-0 run to start the second quarter and finished with 25 points during Santa Margarita’s 81-40 win over Long Beach Poly at Valley Christian on Tuesday. He looked comfortable and confident in his third game playing for the Eagles (3-0).
Bailey said coach Justin Bell has been stressing for him to do the things he’s used to doing.
“A big thing he’s been talking to me about is being myself, being aggressive, seeing the floor and create shots and being comfortable with the team,” Bailey said.
When he got hot in the second quarter, there was no one that could stop him. And even if he misses a shot, Bailey said, “My teammates are picking me up.”
This is a team that should not be underestimated even though it plays in the same Trinity League with St. John Bosco, Mater Dei and JSerra. Only one senior is in the starting lineup. That’s 6-foot-9 Dallas Washington, who scored 16 points and did a good job defensively on Poly’s Jovani Ruff. Junior Brayden Kyman made his usual many contributions and finished with 23 points.
As Bailey learns more about his teammates, one player who should benefit is the other starting guard, Rodney Westmoreland, who made two open threes thanks to Bailey setting him up.
Harvard-Westlake 84, Long Beach Millikan 47: The Wolverines (4-0) cruised to victory. Joe Sterling had 21 points and Nik Khamenia had 20 points and nine assists.
St. Francis 46, Etiwanda 42: Stephan Karibyan had 14 points and Joe Hickey contributed 10 rebounds for St. Francis.
Calabasas 69, Knight 60: Sophomore Grayson Coleman scored a career-high 32 points for Calabasas.
Servite 65, Mission Viejo 56: Bryson Allen led the 4-0 Friars with 18 points.
Carlsbad 74, Mater Dei 72: Jake Hall scored 45 points to help Carlsbad beat the Monarchs in their season debut. Luke Barnett had 19 points for Mater Dei.
San Clemente 79, Calvary Chapel 44: Christian Fernandez scored 19 points and Porter Hansen added 17 points to lead the 6-1 Tritons.
Shalhevet 62, Valencia 44: Aiden Bitran finished with 33 points for Shalhevet.
Verbum Dei 84, Manual Arts 54: Ryan Figueroa scored 22 points and Harper Whitman 15 for 4-0 Verbum Dei.
