Boys’ Basketball: CdM moves past Beckman
IRVINE — Twice in the past four seasons, one boys’ basketball team has cost Corona del Mar High outright Pacific Coast League titles. The Sea Kings played that team on Tuesday night, when they traveled to Beckman.
The contest marked the first of two between CdM and Beckman this season. The matchup at the end of the regular season is the one that has forced CdM to split the league crown with another program. It happened with two games to go in league last season, and in the league finale four seasons ago, each time CdM lost a nail biter, dropping the two by a combined five points.
While the second game has gone to Beckman in recent seasons, CdM has never had a hitch in the first meeting with the Patriots in the past nine seasons. The Sea Kings’ success in the first game continued against Beckman, easily taking it, 69-48, to remain undefeated in league.
“We had lost two [of the past three] times we’ve been here,” Sea Kings Coach Ryan Schachter said, referring to Beckman’s gym. “I tried to get [the] attention [of my players] and make sure they also knew [that] we had lost to them three times in the last four years.”
The Sea Kings (14-6, 4-0 in league) weren’t going down at Beckman, not with the Patriots’ top player, Kainoa Weissberger, out with an injury. Beckman Coach Brady Richards said his junior point guard twisted his ankle at University last week, leaving Weissberger in a boot and forcing two shooting guards to handle the ball against CdM, ranked No. 4 in the CIF Southern Section Division 3A poll.
The plan didn’t work out so well for Beckman (9-11, 1-3), and Sam Kobrine was a big reason why. Kobrine played up top of CdM’s 1-3-1 zone defense, using his athleticism and 6-foot-2 length to disrupt the Patriots’ offense. Kobrine came up with a couple of steals early to ignite the Sea Kings to their fifth straight win.
The opening quarter featured a lot of Kobrine. The junior torched Beckman, scoring 13 of CdM’s 20 points in the first 8 minutes. Kobrine, who finished with 18 points, five rebounds and four steals, has the Sea Kings one win away from closing out the first half of league perfect.
The Sea Kings find themselves in a similar situation as last season, winning the first four league games. They wound up dropping the fifth one to Northwood. Next up for CdM is a trip to second-place Northwood on Friday at 7 p.m.
“We know how good Northwood is,” said Kobrine, whose team is one game ahead of the Timberwolves in league. “They give us problems every year.”
Kobrine created issues for Beckman 66 seconds into the game by hitting his first shot, a three-pointer. The rest of his four successful shots in the first quarter saw Kobrine attack the basket, twice on fast breaks that he created by stealing the ball.
Kobrine made six of his first 10 shots, recording as many field goals as Beckman did as a team in the first quarter. After giving CdM a seven-point lead, Schachter sat Kobrine to start the second quarter. He returned to the court 1 1/2 minutes into the quarter.
Kobrine only attempted two shots in the second quarter, yet the one he drained, a three, sparked a 10-0 run to wrap up the first half. The Sea Kings went into halftime up, 38-22, after shooting 43.2% (16 of 37). The second-chance opportunities went to CdM, which grabbed 11 offensive rebounds to the Patriots’ one. Matt Ctvrtlik and Ryan Stone had three offensive rebounds apiece in the first half.
While Kobrine was on fire in the first quarter, point guard Bo St. Geme took over the scoring duties for CdM in the third quarter. The senior nailed each of his four shots in the quarter, two from behind the arc, giving him half of CdM’s 22 points in the quarter.
St. Geme, who made four of seven threes to finish with 14 points, helped CdM to its 16th win against Beckman in 19 tries. Two of those setbacks are ones Schachter hasn’t forgotten about because of what they ruined for CdM, sole possession of first place.
The Sea Kings and Patriots will see each other again on Feb. 10, with CdM as the home team. By then, Beckman will have Weissberger back. The team won’t have to rely on Michael Yee and Justin Reinhardt, who led Beckman with 14 points each, as much with Weissberger in the lineup.
“When we lose [Weissberger], everybody is kind of playing out of position,” said Richards, whose team turned the ball over 20 times and shot 35.3%. “The pace of our offense starts to struggle.”
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Pacific Coast League
Corona del Mar 69, Beckman 48
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Corona del Mar 20 – 18 – 22 – 9 — 69
Beckman 13 – 9 – 14 – 12 — 48
CdM – Kobrine 18, St. Geme 14, Ctvrtlik 7, Fults 7, Moss 6, Ridge 5, Stone 4, Schwartz 3, Kleinman 2, Le 2, Borquez 1.
3-pt. goals – St. Geme 4, Kobrine 2, Ctvrtlik 1, Schwartz 1, Ridge 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
Beck – Reinhardt 14, Yee 14, Loaiza 8, Chen 4, Nguyen 3, Lathrum 2, Taleisnik 2, Lin 1.
3-pt. goals – Yee 2, Reinhardt 2, Loaiza 2, Nguyen 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.