All Saints’ Day at Costa Mesa

Bryce Alderton

The high school boys basketball season may be drawing to a close but

Costa Mesa High isn’t about to finish in a relaxed mode. The Mustangs

exerted every drop of energy they had against visiting Santa Ana

Wednesday night but fell just short, 55-52, in Golden West League

play.

Mesa sophomore Jeff Waldron tallied a season-high 15 points with

11 rebounds.

His presence inside helped keep the Mustangs (9-16, 4-7 in league)

in the game, with a shot to tie in the closing seconds.

Trailing by three, Waldron boxed out two defenders to corral a

missed Mesa three and was fouled on the putback attempt. He made both

free throws with 11.6 seconds left. But Saints’ leading scorer

Derrick Ates (22 points) found daylight and ran unguarded down the

court to receive an outlet pass and converted a layup to make it a

three-point game. A final Mesa three-point attempt fell short and the

Saints had their sixth league win (6-5), clinching one of the

league’s four guaranteed CIF playoff spots.

By virtue of losses by Mesa and Saddleback Wednesday, idle

Estancia also clinched a guaranteed postseason berth.

“We were scrambling at the end with no timeouts after Jeff’s free

throws,” Mesa Coach Bob Serven said. “(Ates) somehow got loose. We

played a lot better than the last time against Santa Ana, especially

on defense. And Jeff is a monster inside.”

Mesa fell to Santa Ana, 54-39, Jan. 22.

“I keep coming out every game, trying to play my hardest,” Waldron

said. “I wanted this win for the seniors to try to get to the

playoffs, but we couldn’t quite get it done.”

In second-half glimpses, it looked as if Mesa might pull out the

win. The Mustangs led by four at halftime and were up, 36-32, with

3:38 left in the third quarter, following one of Danny Krikorian’s

four three-pointers. Then, the Saints went on an 8-0 run the next

1:48, five points coming from Ates.

Mesa tied it at the end of three quarters before the Saints scored

the first five points of the fourth period, again all from Ates,

following too turnovers.

“We had two turnovers that were unforced and we couldn’t get the

lead again,” Serven said.

Krikorian and Waldron accounted for all of Mesa’s fourth-quarter

points, seven and five, respectively. Neither team received any

points from its bench.

Brian Molina (eight points), along with Marko Stankovic and Scott

Knox (four points each), rounded out the scoring for Mesa.

Wednesday’s game was the final home game for seniors Krikorian,

Sharif Abedrabo, Curtis Millward and Ziad Pepic. The Mustangs visit

Saddleback in a fifth-place duel Friday.

Saddleback lost to league-champion Ocean View (11-0) Wednesday but

with 10 wins, is one victory shy of the 11-victory minimum

requirement for at-large consideration.