Sea Kings suffer second setback in league

Corona del Mar comes out flat against Tesoro in Pacific Coast League game, but remains in second place.CORONA DEL MAR -- The players on the Corona del Mar High boys’ basketball team may have had their heads in the books on Wednesday night. After all, it is finals week.

One thing for certain is their minds weren’t completely on the basketball court.

The Sea Kings showed flashes of their better side in the first half, but before long drifted behind in the second half of their 61-51 loss to Tesoro in a key Pacific Coast League game.

“I didn’t think we had any emotion,” Corona del Mar Coach Ryan Curry said. “We were really sluggish. Was it because it’s finals week? Was it because we expected to win? I don’t know, but we didn’t put out much effort.”

A victory would have kept the Sea Kings in line to challenge Northwood for at least a share of the Pacific Coast League title when the teams meet in the regular-season finale Feb. 8. Now Corona del Mar needs to win its next two games and hope another team beats Northwood for the finale to have league championship implications.

The Sea Kings (14-9, 7-2 in league), who missed the playoffs completely last year, are still firmly in second place, but the loss has allowed University (5-3 in league) and Tesoro (14-9, 5-4 in league) to creep up on them.

Corona del Mar came out sharp enough, taking a 12-6 lead on sophomore Stefan Kaluz’s layup and a 16-9 lead after one quarter on Ryan Lance’s eight-foot jump shot.

But the Titans went on a 21-13 run in the second quarter. They closed the half strong with three-pointers by Dustin Fritz and Tom Rafael and a putback by Rafael to lead, 30-29, at the intermission.

A pair of 10-foot jumpers by Kaluz was all the offense Corona del Mar could muster early in the third quarter before the Sea Kings found an opening on the outer regions of the paint. Shaun Mohler, Erik Rask and Lance all hit seven- to nine-foot shots on the edges of the paint, but Fritz closed out the third quarter with his third three-pointer to give Tesoro a 44-41 lead and momentum heading into the fourth.

Fast-break baskets by Jeff Kornig and Brett Cossairt gave Tesoro a seven-point lead with 7:09 left in regulation time.

“Last time around (a 58-53 Sea Kings win over Tesoro), we moved really quickly,” Curry said. “We fell behind, but we had the look of a champion and I knew we’d come back. There was passion and emotion. Tonight, we didn’t have any of that.”

Corona del Mar turned the ball over and missed open shots down the stretch. When the Sea Kings had to resort to quick fouls in the last five minutes, Tesoro responded by knocking down 11 of 13 free-throw attempts to keep Corona del Mar at bay.

“Tesoro is going to the CIF playoffs, they have enough wins,” Curry said. “You’d think the team with more at stake would be us. We had a chance to put them in our rear-view mirror and have a shot at Northwood, but we came out flat.”

Lance led Corona del Mar with 20 points. Kaluz tallied 17 points and nine rebounds and Mohler added seven rebounds off the bench.

Brandon Monty paced the Titans with 18 points and Fritz added 15 points.

The Sea Kings will look to regroup when they play host to Santa Ana Calvary Chapel on Friday and Laguna Beach on Monday. A pair of wins coupled with a Northwood loss would give the Sea Kings a shot at a share of the Pacific Coast League title when the teams meet Feb. 8.

“The most important thing right now is how we rebound from this one,” Curry said.

Pacific Coast League

Tesoro 61, Corona del Mar 51

Score by Quarters