Mesa pummels Westminster with a wire-to-wire attack

Bryce Alderton

Former Lakers’ broadcaster Chick Hearn popularized the phrase

“garbage time” to denote a point in the game where the victor was

pretty much determined and the players competed for personal pride.

Costa Mesa High boys basketball coach Bob Serven doesn’t believe

in the adage and wants his team to compete for all 32 minutes as if a

championship was at stake.

The Mustangs executed their coach’s philosophy as they blitzed the

visiting Westminster Lions, 87-54, for Mesa’s first Golden West

League victory, which also snapped a two-game losing streak.

“Garbage time is a bad description of a game,” Serven said. “These

guys executed well for 32 minutes.”

Mesa, 6-12, 1-3 in league, took a 13-2 lead the first 4:14 and

never looked back. The Mustangs led by 33 twice in the fourth period

before winning by the same margin.

With 3:45 left in the game and Mesa up, 79-51, Serven called a

timeout following a Westminster foul.

“I don’t want them to get to 60 points,” he said.

The defense tightened up and the Westminster only got three points

after that.

But the points came aplenty for Mesa.

Senior Danny Krikorian led the Mustangs in scoring with a

career-high 27 points and eight assists, the sixth time in 13 games

he has tallied at least 20 points. Freshman Scott Knox also recorded

a career-high 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting, including hitting on 3

of 7 from behind the arc. Krikorian hit 6 of 9 three-point tries and

finished 9 of 14 from the field.

Mesa hit 40% (14 of 35) of its three-pointers and finished

shooting 30 of 55 (54.5%) from the field

Starters Brian Molina (freshman) and 6-foot-6 junior Marko

Stankovic each recorded 10 points.

Molina played the role of spoiler to the Lions offensive sets,

making six steals while also handing out eight assists, six in the

first half.

“This is the best team effort we’ve had all year,” Krikorian said.

“Nobody was selfish, guys were giving each other the ball and we

played four quarters of good basketball.”

The closest the Lions, 3-14, 0-4 in league, got following the

opening tip was at 15-9 following a basket by Luis Preciado with 2:03

left in the first quarter. Mesa then went on a 13-0 run in the next

4:07, a span that saw the Mustangs force five turnovers, including

steals by Molina and Jeff Waldron, who had eight points on 4-of-5

shooting.

Westminster had 11 turnovers in the first half compared to Mesa’s

five.

“We gave them the outside shot and they hit it on us,” said

Westminster assistant coach Mike Hughes, who filled in for head coach

Elbert Davis.

Davis had a family emergency he had to attend to, Hughes added.

“We weren’t patient with the ball and our big men didn’t get the

opportunity to shoot on them,” Hughes said.

The Mustangs mixed up their defense throughout, showing zone at

times while full-court pressing elsewhere.

“The press was effective and we got a good start defensively in

our zone,” Serven said.

No Westminster player scored in double figures, as Jason Morse and

Louis An each had eight points.

Leading, 62-35, to begin the fourth quarter, Mesa scored on six of

its first seven possessions, taking advantage of a porous Lion

defense to get layups or turnaround jumpers from mid-range. Stankovic

converted two layups on passes from Krikorian and Waldron, who both

stood at the top of the key. Danny’s freshman brother, Tony, scored

his four points in the same span on a three off an assist from his

sibling and converted one of two free throws.

The Mustangs hit on 13 of 15 from the free-throw line, while

Westminster drained only 2 of 6 from the stripe.

Reserves Sharif Abedrabo (three points) along with Ziad Pepic and

Curtis Millward (each with two points), got into the scoring column.

Tony had two assists.

“The young guys played well when they were in there,” Serven said.