Boys basketball: Mustangs roll past CdM, 42-29

Richard Dunn

COSTA MESA - If Super Bowl XXXV is anything like this, at least CBS

will keep television viewers interested in the second half.

With several basketballs clanking against the rim or missing

everything entirely, inspiring already enthusiastic students to yell “air

ball!” throughout most of the first half, things finally settled down and

the boys played real hoops in the second half.

“Our guys battled, and this is the type of game last year we might not

have won,” said Costa Mesa High Coach Bob Serven, whose team defeated

visiting Corona del Mar, 42-29, in Pacific Coast League action Wednesday

night.

For the Mustangs (13-7, 3-2 in the PCL), their program officially

reached a new level, knocking off Newport-Mesa District rival CdM for the

first time in boys basketball since 1983, when both teams played in the

Sea View League. The schools played in different leagues from 1987

through 1999, and CdM swept the two-game PCL series last year.

“This is a really big week for Costa Mesa High School basketball,”

Serven said. “First, we beat Corona del Mar, a perennial power and

traditionally the best team in our school district. Then we play

Estancia, our city rival, on Friday (at home at 7 p.m.). Then we play in

the Nike Extravaganza (Saturday against St. John Bosco at 11:30 a.m. at

Long Beach State’s Pyramid).

“Our goal is to win two league games this week, then Saturday might be

the icing on the cake.”

Costa Mesa, which opened the game by missing its first nine

three-point attempts, staggered out of the gate, but found a shooting

groove in the second half as the Mustangs built a 30-16 lead after the

fourth quarter’s initial series.

Corona del Mar (9-13, 3-2), which shot 18% from the field (6 of 33) in

the first three periods, only discovered its shooting touch in the final

quarter (5 of 9, including a pair of three-pointers by 6-foot-3 senior

Blake Mancillas).

No CdM player scored in double figures, but 6-3 senior Zach Brewster

finished with 15 rebounds.

In an odd game, Costa Mesa led at halftime, 13-9, then missed its

first seven field-goal attempts in the third quarter. But the Mustangs

still managed to increase their lead early in the second half as Chad

Vakili and Danny Krikorian connected from three-point territory.

“Danny really stepped up tonight,” Serven said. “That’s his best game

of the season, because he (also) played great defense.”

Costa Mesa, which attempted zero foul shots in the game, was led by

6-7 center Mike Payne, who scored a game-high 12 points, pulled down 17

rebounds, blocked six shots and added one steal.

Junior guard David Conte chipped in with five steals, three rebounds

and two assists for Mesa, while Steve Whittaker had seven first-half

rebounds.

“We didn’t have a very good game plan on how to attack their zone, and

that’s my fault,” CdM Coach Paul Orris said of the Mustangs’ defense,

which created seven Sea King turnovers in the fourth quarter and held CdM

to only 3 of 20 from the floor in the first half.

After a slow first quarter offensively for both teams, the Mustangs

went to work on CdM in the second, outscoring the Sea Kings, 9-5.

Payne, who was 6 of 12 from the field, scored on a putback with 3:54

left before halftime to give Costa Mesa an 8-7 edge, an advantage the

hosts would maintain until the final buzzer.

Later in the second, Krikorian netted a three-pointer, then, with 1:00

left, Payne scored on a turnaround jump shot after a nice post move for a

13-8 Mesa lead. CdM was 1 of 8 from the floor in the second.

“My concern was that I thought (the Mustangs) were missing shots in

the first half they would normally make,” Orris said, referring to Mesa’s

dismal 1-of-12 effort from three-point country in the first half.