Boys basketball: Uni blisters Mesa

Barry Faulkner

IRVINE - The Costa Mesa High boys basketball team ran into a buzz

saw Wednesday night at University High, but Coach Bob Serven said it was

more than the hot-shooting hosts that turned his defending Pacific Coast

League co-champions into sawdust.

“They shot well, but we contributed to that,” Serven said after the

82-51 league-opening thumping, which leaves the Mustangs (11-6) with an

uphill battle in the PCL.

“On offense, we had poor execution or no execution,” Serven continued.

“We had no leadership on the court with a team that has 10 seniors. Not

only did we get beaten in every aspect of the game, but now we’ve got

(PCL title favorite) Northwood Friday (at home). The magnitude of this

(Uni) game was not realized by our players.”

That was not apparent early, as the Mustangs jumped to an 11-5 lead

and settled for a 21-19 advantage at the end of one period.

But the Trojans (11-6), who shared the league crown with the Mustangs

last year, held the visitors to only one field goal in the second quarter

and never looked back.

“That’s the best we’ve played all year,” Uni Coach Mike Dinneen said.

“We did a good job of building on that second quarter, after we had a

hard time guarding (the Mustangs) in the first quarter. We knew the loser

of this game would have to chase some other (league) teams the rest of

the way. We played our best game against a very good team.”

The Trojans chased down Mesa by scoring the first six points of the

second period and clamping down defensively.

Mesa made just 1 of 15 field-goal attempts in the period, a Carlos

Jaime layin with 3:01 left in the half, as the Trojans seized a 35-24

halftime lead.

Uni had just two turnovers before intermission and committed six in

the game, while holding Mesa to 28.8% shooting from the field (17 of 59).

The Trojans, who set a CIF Southern Section single-season record for

three-pointers last season, shot a modest 42.7% from the field. But they

connected on 14 of 27 from beyond the 19-foot-9 arc (nearly 52%),

including five three-pointers in each of the final two periods, to

establish themselves as Northwood’s leading PCL challenger.

“We had a good game plan coming in,” Serven said. “We knew a game in

the 80s was to their advantage.”

Costa Mesa, which came in with one fewer three-pointer than University

this season (139-138), made just 4 of 26 from long range (15.4%).

Several Mustang possessions consisted of three dribbles and a bomb from

well beyond the three-point line.

Mesa senior Chad Vakili had a team-high 19 points, including two

three-pointers, while Danny Krikorian and David Conte added eight and

seven points, respectively.

Senior Jason Millward collected a game-high 11 rebounds to go with his

five points, while Jaime added nine boards and six points.

Outside of Vakili’s 14 second-half points, the rest of the Mesa

starters combined for only five points after intermission.

Vakili scored the first five points of the third period to pull the

visitors within 35-29, but Uni reeled off nine straight points, then

followed a Vakili 12-footer with three straight three-pointers to up the

lead to 53-31.

The Trojans began the fourth quarter with an 11-2 run, before their

reserves took over and continued to blister the nets.

Mesa overcame a 1-2 PCL start last season to gain a share of the

school’s first league crown in 41 varsity seasons, but Serven hopes his

team can avoid an 0-2 start this year by knocking off Northwood Friday.

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE BOYS

University 82, Costa Mesa 51

Score by Quarters

Costa Mesa 21 3 13 14 - 51

University 19 16 21 26 - 82

Costa Mesa - Vakili 19, Jaime 6, Millward 5, Conte 7, Krikorian 8,

Clark 0, Ball 4, Trinh 0, Rodriguez 2, Rowe 0, Kohara 0.

3-pt. goals - Vakili 2, Conte 1, Krikorian 1.

Fouled out - none.

Technicals - none.

University - Gomez 24, Feistel 16, J. Asnon 15, G. Asnon 14, Moskus 0,

Nobe 6, Whelihan 5, Rohani 2.

3-pt. goals - J. Asnon 5, Gomez 3, G. Asnon 2, Nobe 2, Feistel 1,

Whelihan 1.

Fouled out - none.

Technicals - none.