LONG BEACH -- Through the first two rounds of the Southern California Regionals they walked a high wire, tempting fate to topple them from a height they had never known.

And while the fall could hardly be classified as a crash landing, neither was it absent of pain.

The St. Augustine Saints, who staged two improbable rallies to advance to the regional final, watched it all come tumbling down last night, dropping a 88-68 decision to Bishop Montgomery in the Division III boys title game at The Pyramid at Long Beach State.

Before 4,255, St. Augustine, making its first appearance in a regional final after capturing the CIF-San Diego Section Division III crown, suffered its worst loss of the year in concluding its season at 23-7.

Bishop Montgomery, the defending state Division III and two-time Southern Section III-AA champion, ran its mark to 29-2.

"We played our tails off, and we really did a good job of running, which surprised me," said St. Augustine coach Mike Haupt. "But they did a great job of turning our mistakes into baskets."

St. Augustine, the only San Diego Section boys team to advance past the regional quarterfinals, entered the game having won eight straight and 18 of its last 19. High drama marked the Saints' regional quarterfinal and semifinal contests as they rallied from fourth-quarter deficits of 10 and 12 points, respectively, to defeat Sherman Oaks Notre Dame and San Dimas.

And while the magic vanished last night, it did so only after St. Augustine had gone toe-to-toe with one of the state's most highly regarded teams for 31/2 quarters.

Yet the final period proved disastrous for the Saints, as Bishop Montgomery went to the whip, outscoring St. Augustine 29-15.

"We thought we had them right where we wanted them," Haupt said. "But they're so quick at all positions that we weren't able to stay with them. Our kids showed a ton of courage, but that shouldn't surprise anyone who's seen us."

Bishop Montgomery senior guard Errick Craven, who has signed with USC, had the Saints on the ropes early, scoring nine points of his team-high 24 points in the game's first 3:22 as the Knights built a 13-6 advantage.

Nonetheless, St. Augustine, despite not getting a single point from standout forward Floyd North in the first quarter, held tight.

North's first basket of the game, a three-pointer with 6:11 left in the second quarter, trimmed the Bishop Montgomery advantage to 26-22.

Meanwhile, Utah-bound Eric Osmundson, who led all scorers with 26 points, including 12 in the first half, kept the Saints within striking distance. Osmundson's converted layup off a steal brought St. Augustine as close as 34-33 with 2:06 left in the half.

The gap proceeded to widen after the break, but never so much as in the fourth quarter, when Craven, who also pulled down eight rebounds, scored 10 points.

Craven's twin brother, Derrick, who will also attend USC, contributed 18 points for Bishop Montgomery.

North, whose next game will take place as a member of the Oregon State Beavers, finished with 13 points for St. Augustine.

"Sometimes things just don't go your way," Osmundson said. "We played tough and I'm proud of our season."

Riordan remembered the 66-59 loss in the fifth game of the season, but what people may not remember is 6-5 junior Marquise Kately didn't play.

Kately was in uniform Saturday -- and in form. He scored 39 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the No. 2-seeded Crusaders (28-8) gave a clinic in team play and execution in dominating the No. 1-seeded Jaguars (36-2) in a battle of San Francisco teams.

Riordan raced to a 20-point first-half lead and gave McAteer no chance to regroup. The Crusaders outrebounded the Jaguars 51-16. The Jaguars had only 11 defensive rebounds as the Crusaders shot 53 percent with Kately connecting on 15 of 22 shots.

SF Chronicle

Marquise Kately's fingers barely tapped the rim on the dunk to open the second half when he quickly released and pulled his arms back down to his side. 

The Riordan High forward is a quick study. 

Kately had an almost perfect first half, save for a monster dunk in which he was assessed a technical for a bucket hang.

Adjustment made. 

And it was not just Kately. Second-seeded Riordan (28-8) as a team made all the right little moves yesterday in trampling top-seeded McAteer 70-46 for the Northern California Division III boys championship at Arco Arena. 

The Crusaders will play Bishop Montgomery of Torrance (29-2) in next week's chamionship game. Bishop Montgomery defeated St. Augustine of San Diego 88-68. 

"How many words do I have?" asked Riordan coach Rich Forslund after being queried on the difference between this outcome and an eight-point loss to the Jaguars earlier in the season. 

The answer was obvious: Kately. The 6-foot-5 junior scored on pull-up jumpers, dunks, layups, flips, bombs, whatever. You name it, he did it in totaling 39 points -- second only to Craig McMillan of Cloverdale, who had a record 46 in the 1984 NorCal championship. 

Kately also finished with game bests in rebounds (nine) and assists (three),  but his biggest contribution might have been limiting explosive Jaguars point guard Dante Sawyer to 10 points, five rebounds and two assists. 

Forslund, however, was quick in spreading the praise to the rest of his players. The Crusaders have had notoriously bad starts all year long, but they dominated this game from the start thanks to a press-breaking offense that produced a 38-18 halftime advantage. 

"I told (the team) if we started slowly, we would be in for a long afternoon," Forslund said. "We were prepped and ready to go. . . . We met for breakfast this morning, and you could just see in everybody's faces that they were confident. They just weren't excited to be here, but they knew they were going to win." 

McAteer (36-2) has lived off of controlling the tempo with its press, but the Crusaders did a good job of breaking it with two or three quick passes that usually led to easy layups. 

The Jaguars also didn't help themselves with their anemic 14-for-46 shooting (.304), including 4-for-22 in the first half. Riordan, meanwhile, blistered the nets on 27 of 51 attempts (.529) and finished with a 51-18 rebounding advantage. 

"A lot of it was their defense," said McAteer coach Craig Carson. "It was a very good zone. 

"We came out tight. We didn't get a lot of second-shot opportunities, which all season we've thrived on. It puts more pressure on the first shot, which wasn't there today." 

Senior forward Eldridge Henderson led the Jaguars with 16 points. No other Riordan player reached double figures, but Myron Jackson came off the bench to pick up 10 rebounds, John Tofi and Ryan Bruno had seven apiece and point guard Orlando Hodges six.