CdM trounced by Canyon

Chris Yemma

If winning half of a basketball game counted for something, the

Corona del Mar High boys basketball team would have been victorious

in Monday’s 77-55 nonleague loss to Canyon.

The Sea Kings (5-9) outplayed, out hustled and out scored host

Canyon (10-5) to take a 33-25 lead going into the intermission.

But the raw talent of the Comanches evolved in the second half, as

Canyon put up 30 points in the third quarter and 22 in the fourth on

its way to outscoring CdM, 52-32.

Corona del Mar had prior knowledge of Canyon’s long-distance

shooting ability, CdM Coach Ryan Curry said, but the Sea Kings

weren’t prepared for it when it actually happened. The Comanches

completely abandoned an inside game in the second half and relied

almost solely on the three-point shooting of freshman Jerime Anderson

and company.

“I thought they shot very poorly in the first half,” Curry said.

“We knew they could shoot better than that and basically with the

big, strong post kids, we had to take something away.”

Canyon was trying to ride the inside game in the first half, but

the Sea Kings were on top of it, collapsing on the Comanches’

6-foot-8 senior Joe Thorpe every time he got the ball in the post.

It was all working well until Canyon made the halftime adjustment.

“We worked real hard on taking away the interior game and then

once they started shooting it well from the perimeter, it was just a

tough matchup for us,” Curry said.

The Comanches shot 36.4% from beyond the arc and scored seven of

their eight three-pointers in the second half. In a span of less than

two minutes, starting at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Canyon

hit three-straight treys to pull away, 64-49.

Corona del Mar senior Brett Hirata opened the game with a

three-point shot and finished 3 of 7 from beyond the arc, while

junior Scott Slaughter hit one more three. But CdM relied mostly on

the short jumpers of Ryan Lance and the inside game of 6-foot-7

freshman Stefan Kaluz.

Lance had 14 points, on 6-of-13 shooting, and six rebounds for

Corona del Mar, while Kaluz was 4 of 6 for 10 points and he added

five rebounds. But the Sea Kings shot 38.8% from the field to

Canyon’s 42.4%, and the Comanches ran away with it in the third

quarter.

“We had trouble passing and we weren’t getting our shots off in

the second half,” Lance said. “We came out a little flat [in the

second half] and we just weren’t in our offense.”

With the Sea Kings holding a 36-31 advantage with 6:36 remaining

in the third quarter, Canyon went on a 17-1 run, capped with two

three-point shots and one three-point play by Anderson to go up,

48-37.

Hirata hit the next basket -- a three to pull within, 48-40, but

Canyon’s Chris Briggs came right back down the court, was fouled and

converted another three-point play for the Comanches.

Then Canyon hit its three-straight threes and one more jumper to

just about seal it, 66-49, with 5:22 remaining.

“When they shot the ball well, we had trouble defending it,” Curry

said. “They also took us out offensively in the second half, and when

we’re not shooting well and they heat it up, there’s not a lot we can

do from there.”

CdM has lost three of its last four going into Friday’s Pacific

Coast League opener against Tesoro.

Nonleague

Canyon 77, Corona del Mar 55

Score by Quarters

*--*

Corona del Mar 19 14 10 12 -- 55

Canyon 14 11 30 22 -- 77

*--*

CdM -- R. Lance 14, T. Slaughter 1, T. Lance 4, Kaluz 10, Hirata

12, S. Slaughter 5, Smith 9, Quon 0, Hinton 0, Miller 0.

3-pt. goals -- Hirata 3, S. Slaughter 1.

Technicals -- Hirata 1.

Canyon -- Anderson 14, Briggs 12, Thorpe 13, Pastorek 12, Horton

9, Ekott 5, Subat 2, Priest 3, Keon 3, Hsen 2, Cook 2.

3-pt. goals -- Anderson 2, Pastorek 2, Briggs 1, Horton 1, Priest

1, Keon 1.

Fouled out -- None.

Technicals -- Horton 1, Thorpe 1.