Boys basketball: Mesa loses thriller in OT

Richard Dunn

ORANGE - On the Richter scale of comebacks, Costa Mesa High’s boys

basketball team shook Cabrillo of Long Beach like there’s no tomorrow.

But in an Orange Holiday Classic quarterfinal classic Thursday at Chapman

University, Cabrillo’s Jaguars pulled it out in overtime, 77-69.

“It was tough to lose,” said Costa Mesa senior guard Chad Vakili, who

drained six of his seven three-pointers in the second half to rally Coach

Bob Serven’s Mustangs (8-5) from an 18-point deficit.

“The second quarter is where we lost the game,” Serven said. “We didn’t

lose it at the end and we didn’t lose it in overtime. We were lacking

consistency (in the second quarter, when the 7-4 Jaguars outscored the

Mustangs, 29-16).”

Cabrillo, a 7-year-old school which has never played in the CIF Southern

Section playoffs in any sport but feels it has a chance this season to

crack the barrier, outscored Mesa in the extra period, 13-5, to advance to the semifinals against Centennial of Corona.

Centennial defeated Kentridge (Wash.), 80-65, to advance, and the

Mustangs will face Kentridge’s Chargers today at 10:30 a.m. in a

fifth-place semifinal.

Costa Mesa, which made only 3 of 15 three-pointers in the first half,

stormed back from a 47-29 deficit early in the third quarter to take the

lead in the fourth.

Although Cal State LA-bound senior guard David Conte (22 points) fouled

out for Costa Mesa in regulation, the Mustangs claimed three leads in the

waning moments, the last at 64-62 with 0:53 to play on Conte’s short

jumper.

Jushay Rockett, a 6-foot-4 senior who scored a team-high 16 points with

13 rebounds and two blocks, tipped in a missed three-point shot to tie

the game, 64-64, with 0:40 left.

Both teams had a chance to win it in regulation’s closing seconds.

“I think their point guard (Conte) was dominating the game,” said

Cabrillo Coach Monte Owens, whose squad had a slam dunk by 6-5 senior

John Friar taken away at the end of the first half, because of a

free-throw lane violation.

Cabrillo also handed Costa Mesa two points on a third-quarter technical

foul, when Rockett was whistled for hanging on the rim after a thunderous

dunk, in which he took off midway in the key.

Vakili (23 points) nailed four three-pointers early in the fourth

quarter, including three in a row from NBA range, the last giving Mesa a

60-58 lead with 4:24 on the clock.

ORANGE HOLIDAY CLASSIC

Quarterfinals

Cabrillo 77, Costa Mesa 69

Score by Periods

Cabrillo 14 29 15 8 13 - 77

Costa Mesa 11 16 16 21 5 - 69 Cabrillo - Carter 8, G. Brown 10, Friar 10, Nero 5, Rockett 16, H. Brown

9, McGoughly 12, Patterson 5, Silvie 2.

3-pt. goals - McGoughly 2, Patterson 1, Carter 1, Nero 1.

Fouled out - none.

Technicals - none.

Costa Mesa - Conte 22, Krikorian 8, Vakili 23, Millward 4, Jaime 10,

Clark 0, Stroman 2, Rodriguez 0, Ball 0.

3-pt. goals - Vakili 7, Conte 2, Krikorian 2.

Fouled out - Conte.

Technicals - none.