SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Kaiden Bailey was a problem again for JSerra’s boys basketball team on Friday night.

The junior guard for Santa Margarita scored 24 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, to lead the Eagles to a 65-60 win over JSerra in a Trinity League game at JSerra High.

Santa Margarita forward Drew Anderson, right, keeps JSerra guard Brannon Martinsen from scoring in a Trinity League boys basketball game in San Juan Capistrano on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

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Bailey scored 25 points earlier this month when the Eagles beat the Lions 70-49 at Santa Margarita.

Santa Margarita improved to 6-2 in league while JSerra dropped 6-3. St. John Bosco is also 6-2 and Mater Dei is 5-2. Mater Dei and St. John Bosco play each other Saturday at the Intuit Dome.

The win perhaps solidifies Santa Margarita’s status as a contender for the CIF Southern Section’s Open Division, the section’s top division, in the playoffs. The playoff basketball brackets will be released Saturday, Feb. 8.

JSerra appears to still be a strong candidate for the Open Division, which last year was an eight-team group, although this season the bracket could be expanded to as many as 16 teams. This week, JSerra was No. 8 and Santa Margarita was No. 9 in the CIF-SS rankings.

Santa Margarita (20-5 overall), No. 2 in the Orange County rankings, begins next week, the final week of the regular season, with a home game against Mater Dei on Monday. JSerra (20-6), No. 3 in the county rankings, is home against St. John Bosco on Tuesday.

Santa Margarita trailed JSerra 43-40 going into the fourth quarter. The Eagles got their first lead, 46-45, two minutes into the quarter when Bailey converted a three-point play.

The game was tied a couple of times until the Eagles took the lead for good, 56-54, on Bailey’s two free throws with 1:58 remaining. The Eagles’ Brayden Kyman made a 3-pointer from the corner and Rodney Westmoreland made a 3 from the same corner and added two free throws in the final moments.

Bailey scored on drives and two 3s in that final quarter.

“We came into this game needing three more wins to secure the championship of the Trinity,” Bailey said, “but our mindset was just to focus on this one. We had a rough first half, shots weren’t falling. But the main thing we did is we stuck together.”

Santa Margarita coach Justin Bell liked not only praised Bailey’s clutch play but also the multiple contributions from other players, like a 3-point shot by junior forward Drew Anderson down the stretch.

“Kaiden kept his calm,” Bell said. “But I thought as a whole, it was everybody. All the way through, it was a great team win.”

Anderson finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Kyman scored 10 points.

Junior forward Brannon Martinsen led JSerra with 18 points including eight points in the fourth quarter. Lions senior forward Jarne Eyenga scored 12 points with eight rebounds.

JSerra bolted to a 10-0 lead and had a 15-12 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Lions led 33-24 at halftime.

Kaiden Bailey does it again, leads Santa Margarita boys basketball to victory over JSerra

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