Crespi's Boys' Basketball Team Advances to CIF State Southern California Regional Finals

PASADENA – The Crespi Celts has a chance to make history as it heads into the CIF State Southern Regional Finals by virtue of its 62-56 victory over the hosts Maranatha Minutemen Tuesday night. Crespi, who won the CIF Division 4AA crown, will meet Campbell Hall who was runner up to the Minutemen in the 4A division Saturday at Colony High School. Tipoff is at 4pm.

Crespi took an early 15-8 lead and never looked back as well as pressing and harassing the Minutemen, causing 21 turnovers, despite allowing Maranatha’s Tyler Dorsey to 25 points, 12 of which came in the second half.

Maranatha however kept the game interesting, when Tey Williams hit a 3-pointer with under 50 seconds to play in the first quarter to close the gap to 19-13.

“We’ve been stepping up (on defense) all year,” Celts Coach Russell White said. “It was not a one-game deal. There are no secrets. We played hard as a team and tried stop their big game, and we did it.”

De’Anthony Melton tallied 21 points, 13 of which came in the second half, while Taj Regans finished with 16 points for the Celts.

“If we score and hold them, then it’s a win-win situation for us,” Melton said.

After Zach Samlley stole an errand pass and convert it to a bucket in the early parts of the third quarter, Crespi once again tightened the screws, forcing four turnovers and two more empty possessions by the Minutemen to take a 14 point lead, which Maranatha was unable to recover from.

Maranatha did close the gap to 44-36 when Tey Williams completed a three-point play, but back to back threes from Mike Krkeyan and Billy Oxley and then a steal and basket by Melton put the Celts out of reach with the 16-point lead.

“The key was holding Tyler to 20 to 25 points, and then what really helped was our other players getting going,” Melton said. “Sixty-five points is a big amount for us.”