Boys basketball: Mustang bombers fizzle

Barry Faulkner

MISSION VIEJO - Laguna Hills High boys basketball coach Dave Brown

has collected 505 wins in 32 seasons on the bench. But few have been as

wacky as Tuesday’s 52-49 decision over Costa Mesa in the pool-play opener

of the Trabuco Hills Tournament at Trabuco Hills High.

The Mustangs, who netted half their 10 three-pointers in the second

quarter to turn a 14-10 first-quarter deficit into a 36-24 halftime lead,

led by as many as 15. And when senior Steve Whittaker netted his fourth

three ball with 6:11 remaining, it pushed Mesa’s advantage to 49-38.

But the Mustangs (4-3) didn’t score again, as Laguna Hills monopolized

the final 14 points to improve to 9-4.

“We gave that game away,” said Mesa Coach Bob Serven, whose squad was

5 of 21 (23.8%) from the field in the second half, when it committed nine

of its 15 turnovers.

“As well as we played in the first half, we were equally bad in the

second half. We scored three points in the fourth quarter and didn’t do

much better (10) in the third.”

Brown said Mesa’s late shooting woes were unexpected. And he was

speaking from experience.

“They beat us last year (72-63) by making 14 threes,” Brown recalled.

“We were hoping they’d cool off last year, but they never did. So, I

wasn’t expecting it tonight.”

Mesa did better than shoot well the first 16 minutes. After Whittaker

netted two three-pointers in the first three minutes to help the Mustangs

stay in it, three different Mustangs connected from threedom in the

second quarter, when Mesa hit 5 of 7 from beyond the arc and 10 of 12,

overall, in the period.

Sophomore Danny Krikorian hit all three of his three-point attempts in

the quarter, while Nick Cabico and Jun Gandia also sank bombs from behind

the 19-foot-9 line to prompt some unpleasant flashbacks from Brown.

Krikorian, who finished 4 of 5 from the field, all beyond the arc,

drained his fourth straight to open the second-half scoring and Whittaker

added another three-pointer to make it 44-31 with 2:39 left in the third.

Mesa, which finished 19 of 44 from the field (43.2%), managed only two

field goals inside the arc after intermission and shot only one free

throw all night.

The Hawks converted their final six free throws, including two apiece

by junior Jimmy Vollenhals with 1:05 left to give them their first lead

since 17-16. After Mesa missed a three-pointer with 33 ticks left, Chris

Lee converted both ends of a one-and-one to finalize the score with 23

seconds remaining.

Mesa missed one final three, then was called for traveling after

getting the rebound and passing back outside.

Mike Payne, Mesa’s 6-7 senior center, had nine blocked shots nine

rebounds and five points, while Conte had seven assists and matched

Whittaker and Krikorian with a team-high 12 points.

“We were very fortunate to get a win out of that one,” Brown said.

Vollenhals and Lee had 12 points each for Laguna Hills, which did not

substitute in the second half.

TRABUCO HILLS TOURNAMENT

Pool play

Laguna Hills 52, Costa Mesa 49

Score by Quarters

Laguna Hills 14 10 14 14 - 52

Costa Mesa 10 26 10 3 - 49

Laguna Hills - Lee 12, Vollenhals 12, Donat 9, Sherman 9, Dimick 6,

Williams 4.

3-pt. goals - Sherman 1, Vollenhals 1.

Fouled out - None.

Technicals - None.

Costa Mesa - Whittaker 12, Conte 12, Krikorian 12, Payne 5, Gandia 3,

Cabico 3, Vakili 2, Clark 0.

3-pt. goals - Whittaker 4, Krikorian 4, Gandia 1, Cabico 1.

Fouled out - Whittaker.

Technicals - None.