Boys basketball: Mustangs dropped at Pomona

Steve Virgen

POMONA - Maybe Pomona High’s Odell Howard provided a 56-40 CIF

Southern Section Division III-A first-round victory over the visiting

Costa Mesa boys basketball team Friday.

But the Mustangs’ shooting helped the Red Devils, as well.

Costa Mesa (18-10) shot 16 of 54 from the field, including 3 of 19

from beyond the three-point arc. The Mustangs did not hit a three-pointer

until Danny Krikorian nailed one trey with 2:30 left. Before then, Costa

Mesa was 0 of 15 from three-point shooting.

Aside the Mustangs’ shooting woes, Howard “was a man among boys,”

Costa Mesa Coach Bob Serven said.

Howard, a 6-foot-5 senior center bound for Washington State on a

football scholarship, scored a game-high 26 points and grabbed a

game-high 20 rebounds, to avenge a 63-43 loss to the Mustangs Dec. 1, a

game he missed while on a football recruiting trip.

“He killed us,” Serven said of Howard, who scored 22 of his points in

the paint, while making all four of his foul shots. “Size beat us. A lot

of their baskets were on putbacks. We were not very physical.”

Costa Mesa senior point guard David Conte retaliated with frequent

drives to the basket and led the Mustangs with 21 points. Chad Vakili,

another Mesa senior, scored seven of his nine points in the first quarter

and, like the rest of the Mustangs, struggled to find rhythm.

“Our athleticism and size made the difference,” Pomona Coach John

Wooldridge said. “We took Vakili away and Conte got his. We are not

great, but Odell makes everyone around him better.”

Howard displayed his coaches’ words, scoring 18 points in the second

half, after establishing his inside presence in the first half, when the

Red Devils (20-7) led, 26-20.

“It’s been a good year,” Serven said. “There were a lot of highs and

lows. David and Chad had great years, as did everyone else.”

Serven’s Mustangs needed one win to break the school’s single-season

record for victories they shared with the 1965-66 team.

Howard wouldn’t let that happen. He scored all eight of the Red

Devils’ points in the third quarter, leading to a 34-25 advantage.

Costa Mesa went on 9-2 scoring run in a two-minute span in the fourth

quarter, but Pomona knocked down 10 of its 10 foul shots down the

stretch.

Krikorian began the Mustangs’ late run with a three-pointer after an

assist from Nolan Clark. Conte stole the ball, pulled up and hit a

three-pointer with 2:00 left and Serven called a 30-second timeout.

Howard later scored down low, but Krikorian answered with another trey

after another assist from Clark to pull within 46-38. Then the Red Devils

made their free throws.

Conte, Vakili, Krikorian and Clark played all but 22 seconds of the

game, as Serven did not make a substitution until two minutes left in the

third quarter. Marko Stankovic, a junior varsity call-up, briefly

replaced senior Carlos Jaime, who had a team-high seven rebounds.

Pomona’s Delanie Walker also did some damage, grabbing six offensive

rebounds.