RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA >> The Santa Margarita boys basketball team used clutch free-throw shooting to hold off a furious fourth-quarter rally by Los Alamitos to secure a 72-65 win in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs Friday night at Santa Margarita High.

Rockwell Reynolds had a team-high 20 points for the Eagles, who led by as many as 21 points early in the second half, until the Griffins’ Tyler Matthews got into a rhythm.

Matthews finished with a game-high 31 points, including six 3-pointers, as the Griffins pulled within four points of the Eagles (20-3) with under a minute to play.

A few more free throws by Santa Margarita sealed the victory. The Eagles went 12 of 14 from the line in the fourth quarter.

Santa Margarita (20-3) will be on the road in the second round as they face St. Anthony on Tuesday, Feb. 15.

Eagles coach Justin Bell was not concerned with how his team finished the game, and gave credit to Los Alamitos’ talented squad for battling.

“I think they’re good, I think Los Al is good,” Bell said. “When you get to Division 1 in the playoffs, every team is good, and we played well early and they made a run like we anticipated that they might. They have some good seniors and some good guards, but we’re happy that we finished the game strong.”

“Whenever you get in tournament play you just have to win,” Bell added.

The Griffins (20-8) started the fourth quarter trailing by 17 points and began to chip away as Mellgoza hit a 3, Matthews knocked down a 3 and Jake Petroff made a shot from beyond the arc.

Matthews continued his scintillating shooting by hitting a total of four 3-pointers in the final quarter, but players like Jonathan Moxie and Cameron Mercadel (15 points) kept knocking down free throws to keep Los Alamitos at bay.

Reynolds, who scored 14 second-half points, also made a pair of free throws late in the game to push Santa Margarita’s lead to six points.

“I think he’s taken a big step this year going into his junior year, and at the end of the game he knocked his free throws down which was great.” Bell said

The Griffins jumped out to a 15-9 advantage behind the play of senior guard Daniel Mellgoza, who scored 11 of his 16 points in the opening eight minutes.

Jake Heberle had 13 points for Santa Margarita as he sparked a 12-3 run by scoring six consecutive points. A few possessions later, Kyle Evans’ steal and slam dunk helped the Eagles take a 21-18 lead to end of the first.

“He’s nails, he just continues to do the right things all the time, he stays poised because he’s been in these positions before,” Bell said about Heberle.

The Eagles defense, led by big men Evans and Rockwell, held Los Alamitos to just six points in the second quarter as they took a 39-24 halftime lead.

“We just wanted to turn up our intensity,” Bell said. “We got a little loose at times, but I think we stayed dialed in, in the second quarter.”

Bell expects another battle in the second round against St. Anthony.

“When I looked at the bracket I knew every game was going to be a dogfight, so we gotta keep it rolling,” Bell said.