Pacifica Christian O.C. boys’ basketball loses to Bonita in CIF Division 2A quarterfinals

For just the second time in four seasons of existence, the Pacifica Christian Orange County High boys’ basketball team will not be playing in a CIF Southern Section final.

The Tritons fell to No. 4-seeded La Verne Bonita 62-53 on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Division 2A playoffs at Vanguard University.

While it won’t soften the blow, the Tritons (22-8) still forged a long playoff run after moving up three playoff divisions this season, a fact that made head coach Jeff Berokoff proud.

“I love this group of kids,” said Berokoff, who led the Tritons to the Division 4AA section final last season and the Division 6 final in 2017, the program’s inaugural varsity season. “We only have 187 kids at our school, and it’s only our fourth year of varsity basketball. I think doing what we are doing is unprecedented, and I couldn’t be happier to coach this group of guys. Hats off to Bonita, they deserve it.”

For Bonita (28-2), it was an inspiring night from Jordan Lopez. The senior shooting guard capped off a hot start with a strong final quarter on the way to a 26-point performance.

Senior Judah Brown led the way for the Tritons with 25 points, including two of his team’s four three-pointers.

Bonita jumped out to a 10-3 lead on the back of a strong early performance from Lopez, who had seven of the Bearcats’ first 10 points.

The Tritons struggled to connect passes against a stingy Bearcat defense and failed to make a three-pointer in the first eight minutes.

Brown provided the lone bright spot early for the Tritons. The St. Mary’s College signee contributed two crucial blocks to keep the game close and scored five points.

The Bearcats led by as many as 13 points in the second quarter thanks to three-pointers by Kobe Hart and Gavin Eckler. Pacifica Christian’s shooting struggles continued in the second quarter as it only managed to hit one three-pointer, a vital part of its second-round win over Manhattan Beach Mira Costa.

The Tritons entered the second half trailing 29-19, but they responded in the third thanks to Brown and Houston Mallette (11 points). Brown would cut the Bonita lead to seven points on a three-point play.

“I thought Judah was excellent,” Berokoff said. “He left it all out there tonight, and that’s all you can ask.”

With seconds ticking down in the third quarter, Mallette hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to cut the Bonita lead to 44-40.

The Tritons would come back to tie the game at 45-45 in the fourth quarter with under six minutes remaining, but Lopez caught fire again.

In a furious final quarter, Lopez scored 14 points to seal the Bearcats’ trip to the semifinals. Bonita will host No. 2 Los Angeles Ribet Academy (24-2) on Saturday. Ribet edged Rolling Hills Estates Peninsula 49-46 in the quarterfinals.

Lopez credited his performance to the experience of his team.

“I just had to calm down and calm my teammates down,” he said. “We’ve been in that situation before. We have such great chemistry. We’ve been playing together for four years now, and we’ve been through everything.”

Bonita coach Tim Godley saw his team’s conditioning pay off.

“In the summer, when we played three or four games in the row, and they were just dead tired,” he said. “I said at halftime, ‘You guys just have to find another gear.’ They’ve been able to do that.”

CIF Southern Section Division 2A playoffs

Quarterfinal

Bonita 62, Pacifica Christian Orange County 53

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Bonita 15 – 14 – 15 – 18 — 62

Pacifica Christian 12 – 7 – 21 – 13 — 53

B – Lopez 26, Hart 12, Eckler 6, J. Horne 8, M. Horne 4, Barnes 2, Jastrab 2, Watkins 2.

3-pt. goals – Eckler 2, Hart 2, Lopez 1.

Fouled out – J. Horne.

Technicals – None.

PC – Brown 25, Mallette 10, Deal 7, Erving 7, Juwani 2, Sims 2.

3-pt. goals – Brown 2, Mallette 1, Deal 1.

Fouled out – Erving.

Technicals – None.

::

Support our sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber.

For more sports stories, visit latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/sports or follow us on Twitter @DailyPilotSport.