During pregame warmups Drew Anderson of the Santa Margarita boys basketball team had a feeling that something good was about to happen.
“When we were shooting around and in layup lines I was feeling really good,” Anderson said.
He felt good. He played great.
Anderson had a near-perfect night Wednesday when Santa Margarita beat Redondo Union, 75-71, in a CIF Southern California Regional playoff game. Anderson scored 29 points, was 11 for 11 on all shots, 4 for 4 on 3-point shots, had 10 rebounds, five of which were offensive rebounds, and blocked three shots.
Near-perfect because he was 3 for 4 at the free-throw line.
Santa Margarita forward Drew Anderson dunks the ball for the score against Mater Dei in a Trinity League basketball game in Santa Ana on Wednesday, January 28, 2026. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)Basketball players say that there can be times when the circumference of the basketball rim looks as large as a hula-hoop.
“Anything I put up, I felt like it was going in,” Anderson said.
Wednesday’s game was not a quirk. Anderson has been the most consistent player for Santa Margarita, which takes a 28-5 record into its state playoff game Saturday at Sierra Canyon (27-1).
Anderson, a 6-9 senior forward who signed with Oregon State, is averaging 20 points and nine rebounds a game. Anyone thinking about the Orange County boys basketball player of the year has to have Anderson in their thoughts along with Anderson’s teammate, senior guard Kaiden Bailey, and La Habra senior guard Acen Jimenez.
Last month Anderson scored 21 points with nine rebounds in the Eagles’ 84-56 win over JSerra in the semifinals of the Trinity League Tournament. He then scored 24 points in a 57-56 win over St. John Bosco in the tournament championship game.
“I’m just trying to be a versatile player,” Anderson said. “I’m doing whatever I can on the court, whether that’s scoring inside or getting rebounds or hitting 3s if I need to, and blocking shots.”
Anderson has good athletic DNA. His father, Marshall Anderson, played football at North Dakota State. His mother, Carrie Welle Anderson, was a basketball player at Creighton University and is in the school’s athletics Hall of Fame.
Anderson is an accurate long-range shooter from the corners. When he comes down with an offensive rebound he immediately goes back up with power. His ball-handling skills are advanced for a high school player of his height.
Drew played football his freshman year at Santa Margarita. He said that one season helped him in basketball.
“I was a tight end and I was not the best blocker,” Anderson said. “I was a skinny kid going up against these big defensive ends, so I had to learn to be physical and hold my own against bigger guys.”
Santa Margarita coach Justin Bell said that football experience contributed to making Anderson the basketball player he is today.
“He’s got legitimate toughness,” Bell said. “What I mean by that is, we’re not talking boxing or MMA. It’s just that he’s an everyday dude. He shows up every day to do every drill as hard as he can, work on his shooting as hard as he can, and he doesn’t flinch from anything.
“What he does day in and day out comes to life in those tough moments. And he’s super-talented, too.”
Bell said Anderson’s performance at Redondo Union was another example of what makes Anderson so effective.
“All of the shots he made were within the confines of the game,” Bell said. “All of it was within the confines of what was available and he capitalized on it. He never forces anything.”
Santa Margarita lost to Sierra Canyon, 70-47, in the CIF Southern Section Open Division quarterfinals. It’s the only time this season Santa Margarita has played Sierra Canyon, the No. 1 team in California according to the CalHiSports.com state rankings. Santa Margarita is No. 8 in those rankings.
Anderson said the Eagles will take the lessons learned into the rematch against the Trailblazers, who won the CIF-SS Open Division championship.
“We’ve got to handle their pressure better this time,” Anderson said. “We’re going to be more poised against their pressure.”
It might take a perfect game for the Eagles to beat Sierra Canyon. They have a player who has an idea about what a perfect game looks like.
NOTES
• The regional semifinals of the boys and girls state basketball playoffs are Saturday at host school sites. The regional finals will be at host school sites Tuesday. …
• The CIF State basketball handbook recommends that for the Open Division semifinals and finals in regional play a home gym should have a seating capacity of at least 1,800. Bleachers were added to the Sierra Canyon gym in recent years to reach a seating capacity of 1,800. …
• Regional divisional champions advance to the CIF State Basketball Championships that will be played March 13 and 14 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento. …
• Spectrum will televise live the CIF SoCal Regional Open Division boys championship game Tuesday and all of next week’s CIF State basketball finals. …
• Matt Beeuwsaert, one of the first great basketball players during the long era of Gary McKnight at Mater Dei, is a shooting coach. He has an app that is a teaching aid. It can be found by searching “jump shot app.” …
• The finals of the CIF SoCal Regionals for boys and girls soccer are Saturday at host school sites. Starting times are usually 1 p.m. or 5 p.m. …
• Several of Orange County’s better boys volleyball teams are in the Best of the West tournament Friday and Saturday at Poway High. The county teams there are Beckman, Corona del Mar, Edison, Huntington Beach, Los Alamitos, Newport Harbor, San Clemente, Servite and Tesoro. …
• The Servite 4×100 relay team is off to a sizzling start this season. The foursome was clocked at 40.05 seconds at the Mustang Roundup this past Saturday at Trabuco Hills High. They ran a state-best 40.00 seconds at last year’s Arcadia Invitational.
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