Was it pretty? No. But winning pretty much doesn’t matter in the CIF Open Division playoffs.

Mission Bay boys basketball held off the No. 5 seed Torrey Pines 44-42, thanks to a 20-point first quarter.

“A win in a close game gets us over the hump mentally and shows our guys that they can win in a close game,” said Mission Bay coach Marshawn Cherry. “In league, we had so many close games that we didn’t close out or didn’t execute, so it was huge to get over the hump and get one of these close games.”

The Bucs came out hot in the first in front of a sold-out home court, jumping out to a 20-10 lead. Caleb Newton, Clay Grebing, and Maseyo Elliott led the first-quarter barrage. Elliot and Grebing scored five points each, while Newton scored 10, including connecting on a fade-away three from the wing and hammering home a breakaway dunk that capped a 17-6 run over the game’s first six minutes.

“It was huge to start hot and it was something we had talked about coming into the game,” Cherry said. “We wanted to jump on them and set the tone. We know they can get hot and change the tune of a game in minutes, so getting out to a lead and getting some cushion was key.”

However, the hot start offensively would not carry over for the rest of the game. Over the final three quarters Mission Bay failed to score more than nine points in a quarter, and even went the first six minutes of the second quarter without a bucket.

Even on a cold shooting night, Mission Bay did seem to have a knack for finding some clutch shots in the dry spells, such as a big three-pointer from Kevon Fitzpatrick and a put-back dunk by Grebing, which gave Mission Bay a 27-19 lead at the half.

That timely shooting would again show up in the game’s final minutes, with the game at 36-34 and just over five minutes to play, Mission Bay would go on a small 6-0 run spearheaded by another triple from the wing by Fitzpatrick and a driving lay-up through contact by Grebing to put the game at 42-34 with four minutes to play.

“We needed those buckets,” Cherry said. “It was huge because it helped us keep the lead, and it showed that we can make plays down the stretch in a tight game.”

Torrey Pines would manage to draw to 44-42 with over a minute to play, but Mission Bay’s defense prevented them from connecting on two separate potential game-winning three-pointers, punching their ticket to the CIF quarterfinals.

With the win, Mission Bay is now set to square off against top-seeded Montgomery on Tuesday, Feb 25 at 7 p.m., where the Bucs will look to be just the third team to beat Montgomery this season.

“We are gonna need to do a good job of rebounding, play gritty defense, and hold them to just one shot attempt a possession. Offensively, we are going to have to execute,” Cherry said.