Boys basketball: North rallies to top South, 97-86

Richard Dunn

COSTA MESA - The 20-minute halftime Saturday night that included a

slam dunk contest also seemed to lull the South All-Star basketball team

to sleep.

After leading by four points at the break, the South watched its lead

melt away to start the second half as the visiting North went up by 10

before most of the fans returned to their seats at Orange Coast College.

“The start of the second half is what did it,” South Coach Bob Serven

(Costa Mesa) said, after the North’s 97-86 victory in the 36th annual

Orange County All-Star boys basketball game.

Led by 6-foot-5 Ryan Moore of Brea Olinda, voted the game’s most

valuable player, the North rallied early in the second half and never let

up.

Moore scored 23 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and added a block and an

assist, while North teammates Landon MacGinnis of Villa Park (16 points)

and Quinn Hawking of Anaheim (15) also scored in double figures.

“(Moore) played great,” said Serven, whose South team was led by Jason

Garey of University (16 points), Capistrano Valley’s Jeff Gloger (14),

Woodbridge’s Danny Lambert (14) and San Clemente’s Adam Tancredi (11).

Serven’s own Mesa selection for the South, Steve Whittaker, did not

score and attempted only two shots.

“The game didn’t unfold for him to get that many shots, but he was

very good for us during the year,” Serven said of Whittaker, who netted

80 three-pointers and averaged 12.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, as

Costa Mesa shared the Pacific Coast League championship, its first league

title in 41 years.

The South, which still leads the series, 21-15, enjoyed a barrage of

three-pointers in the first half that led to a 29-16 advantage. Garey

made two of the South’s four threes during the stretch.

The North chipped away and eventually tied the game, 42-42, but the

South never lost its first-half lead.

To open the second half, however, Moore canned a three-pointer to

trigger a 16-2 run, which was climaxed by a short, turnaround jumper from

Los Alamitos’ Brian Rauskin with 16:08 on the clock, giving the Yankees a

58-48 edge.

The South pulled to within four points on two occasions, but never got

closer.