Mira Costa Is Making Its Move for Title

Glenn Marx’s grand plan for the Mira Costa High basketball program appears to be right on schedule. Maybe even ahead of schedule.

“Two years ago, the thing we said when we started at Mira Costa was that we hoped we could make our program competitive with traditional programs like Palos Verdes and Rolling Hills,” said Marx, who is in his third season at Mira Costa.

Well, the Mustangs are not only competing with those schools, they are beating them with convincing regularity.

That was certainly the case Friday night at Palos Verdes, where a balanced Mira Costa team proved too deep and too talented for the outmanned Sea Kings. The final score was 58-43, but for all intents and purposes the game was over early in the third quarter.

It was the 15th victory in the past 18 games for the high-flying Mustangs, who loom as legitimate challengers to Morningside for the Ocean League title. They improved to 16-6 overall and 4-1 in league play.

Mira Costa’s only league loss came Jan. 16 against the mighty Monarchs, 87-76. But the fact that the Mustangs rallied from a 17-point deficit and tied the game in the fourth quarter--in Morningside’s gym, no less--has to give Marx and his team confidence going into the second half of league play.

“We spotted them 17 points at Morningside and still tied it with three minutes to go,” Marx said. “So, we have to feel in our place, with our crowd and everything, that it’s going to be a great game. We’re looking forward to it.”

Marx, however, doesn’t want anyone to think he is looking past the other teams in the league. Before Mira Costa plays host to Morningside Feb. 6, it must deal with Rolling Hills Friday night on the road.

“We still have Rolling Hills to play, and they told us after we beat them, ‘Wait until we see you on the hill,’ ” Marx said. “If we don’t beat Rolling Hills, then the game against Morningside becomes superfluous.”

Before the season, some believed Mira Costa, led by 6-foot-8 center Chris Davis, was a one-man team. Just the opposite has been true.

When Davis was benched with two fouls and no points midway through the first quarter Friday night, the Mustangs didn’t cave in. They dug in.

Simi Fonua, a 6-1 small forward who distinguished himself as an all-league linebacker in football, muscled inside for two consecutive baskets. Josh Branca, a sophomore point guard with a soft left-handed shooting touch, then beat the first-quarter buzzer with one of his four three-point baskets to give the Mustangs a 17-15 lead.

Mira Costa continued to spread around the scoring in the second quarter, getting key perimeter baskets from Branca and guards Marc Pioch and Chris Kresser to extend its lead to 33-25 at halftime. By the time Davis and 6-5 power forward Ken Simonds got their inside games going in the second half, the outcome was decided.

Proof of the Mustangs’ balance was in the scorebook: Branca 14 points, Simonds 11, Pioch and Fonua eight each, Davis seven, freshman point guard Shane Willis six and Kresser four.

“That’s why we’re becoming a good team,” Marx said. “Branca can really shoot and Kresser and Pioch can really shoot. What’s going to make us better is to have Simonds hit that little jump shot from 15 feet and Simi (Fonua) do what he can do. Then if people play zone (defense) against us, we can get them out and play us man-to-man. Then, of course, we’ll use Davis.”

It’s all part of Marx’s grand plan.

Poor Palos Verdes. The Sea Kings, who played the first half of the season without guard Julius Coleman, apparently will be without 6-5 center Art Shell for the second half.

The son of the Raiders coach is again sidelined with knee problems.

“It hurts them,” Marx said. “I would think it hurts them more defensively than offensively. But I don’t think it hurt them tonight because we did not choose to go inside as much.”

Coleman had a suspected heart problem and was not given medical clearance to play until recently.

The loss dropped Palos Verdes to 6-14 overall and 1-4 in league play.

Torrance moved into the driver’s seat for the Pioneer League basketball title Friday night by outlasting host Centennial, 84-80, in three overtimes.

“It exhausted me like I had played,” Torrance Coach Bob Little said. “It was very exciting.”

The victory gave the Tartars (14-6, 4-1) a one-game lead over Centennial (14-9, 3-2) and avenged an 80-79 loss to the Apaches in the first round of league play at Torrance.

Two free throws each by Eric Gonzalez and Kris Radcliffe in the third overtime provided the winning margin. Center Joe Zaletel paced the Tartars with 22 points.

Little said he thought Torrance would win the game in regulation after taking a two-point lead late in the fourth quarter. But a critical turnover led to a last-second Centennial basket, sending the game into overtime.

“I don’t know what it is, but Centennial just seems to get turnovers out of us that are almost unforced,” Little said. “This has been one of the strongest teams I’ve ever had in many respects, but they can also play very poorly.”

Torrance resumes league play Wednesday and Friday with games at North Torrance and South Torrance, teams it has each beaten twice this season.

Can Morningside save face?

That’s the question heading into this season’s third and final meeting between the powerhouse Palos Verdes and Morningside girls’ basketball teams at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Morningside.

After losing twice to the Sea Kings--once in a tournament final and once in Ocean League play--Morningside Coach Ron Randle is confident the Lady Monarchs can gain a measure of revenge at home.

“We plan to show that we’re not an inside-only team,” Randle said, responding to criticism that Morningside relied too heavily on 6-4 center Janet Davis in its 62-52 Ocean League loss at Palos Verdes on Jan. 9.

“What we need to do is show that we’re capable of playing a perimeter game. We made some mistakes last time that hurt our offense. It wasn’t so much what Palos Verdes did.”

Randle said an important player in Wednesday’s game will be Akiba Flanagan. The Morningside forward reportedly was not 100% in the last meeting with Palos Verdes because of illness. Flanagan, who averages 17 points a game, was held to five Jan. 9.

“The key to the game will be Akiba Flanagan,” Randle said.

Poor free-throw shooting has hurt Morningside in its losses to Palos Verdes--the Lady Monarchs made only 12 of 24 attempts last game while Palos Verdes was 19 for 24--but Randle feels free throws won’t be a critical factor this time.

“Palos Verdes did a fantastic job at the free-throw line, but we feel this game won’t be decided by free throws,” he said. “Palos Verdes is going to have to prove they can make baskets, not free throws.”

The Sea Kings certainly proved it Friday. They buried visiting Mira Costa, 93-9, (yes, it was that bad) to improve to 22-1 overall and 5-0 in league. The victory extended Palos Verdes’ league winning streak to 52 games, a mark that should serve as a source of motivation for Morningside.

After all, it was Palos Verdes that snapped the Lady Monarchs’ 89-game league winning streak the last time out.

Morningside would like nothing better than to return the favor.

Morningside and Palos Verdes cannot meet in the playoffs because they are in different CIF-Southern Section divisions.

Morningside (21-2, 5-0) is ranked No. 1 in Division I, while Palos Verdes is the top team in Division III.

Morningside actually is a Division III school based on enrollment. But the Lady Monarchs chose to move up, as they did last season.

The Morningside boys (20-2, 5-0) compete on the Division III level and are ranked No. 1 in the state.

Leuzinger, weakened by a season-ending injury to center Frank Willis, is slowly sinking out of sight in the Bay League basketball race.

The Olympians (11-6, 3-4), preseason league favorites, suffered their third consecutive loss Friday night to host Hawthorne, 70-58.

Leuzinger’s troubles started Jan. 18 when the 6-8 Willis went down with an ankle injury with his team leading Inglewood, 16-5. From there, Inglewood rallied for a 51-50 victory.

“He’s out for the year,” Leuzinger Coach Phil Sherman said of Willis, who was averaging 22 points and 12 rebounds a game. “We’re a pretty small team now. We’re reeling, but we’re going to make some changes.”

Inglewood (14-8, 7-0) is threatening to run away and hide in the league standings after beating Culver City, 83-68, Friday. Hawthorne (11-10, 5-2) is the only team capable of catching the Sentinels, but they need help.

Westchester posted its biggest victory of the season Friday night by turning back host Fairfax, 46-45, on a last-second blocked shot by 6-8 center LeRoi O’Brien. The Comets almost let a 46-42 lead slip away with six seconds left.

The victory moves Westchester (16-6, 6-1) into sole possession of second place in the Metro League, a game ahead of Fairfax and a game behind Manual Arts. O’Brien, who signed early with Pepperdine, scored nine points.

Henry Pacheco has been released as San Pedro High football coach and replaced by assistant Mike Walsh, Pacheco said. He guided the Pirates to seven L.A. City playoff appearances and two league titles in 10 seasons. San Pedro was 4-6 last season and did not reach the playoffs.