Boys’ Basketball: CdM strong on road
EL CAJON — Four key players on the Corona del Mar High boys’ basketball team also play volleyball at the school. The foursome missed the volleyball team’s season opener on Wednesday.
Basketball has kept the four away, and the sport will continue to delay their volleyball season. Those players are reasons why the Sea Kings’ basketball team is still playing this late in the season.
The biggest of the four is Ryan Moss and the 6-foot-7 senior created havoc in the opening round of the CIF State Southern California Regional Division III playoffs. Moss scored 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked three shots, leading No. 10-seeded CdM to a 46-33 win at No. 7 El Cajon Valley on Wednesday night.
As CdM Coach Ryan Schachter boarded the bus, he yelled, “Beast Moss!” The center delivered for CdM on both ends of the court, rotating on defense to alter shots. When the team was in need of offense, there was Moss tipping in a couple of misses, recording a putback and layup, or throwing down a two-handed dunk.
Moss, who finished a perfect five of five, helped CdM (25-7) advance to the next round, a matchup at No. 2 La Verne Damien (25-5) on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Sea Kings bounced back from their 55-47 setback to Beverly Hills in the CIF Southern Section Division 3A final at Azusa Pacific University on Friday.
“We’re buying all the games we can right now,” Moss said. “We’re loving all this basketball, but we’re also itching to get back to volleyball, too, because we’re excited for that.”
Moss, along with Kevin Fults, Sam Kobrine and Matt Ctvrtlik, the other volleyball players on the basketball team, won’t get to compete in a prestigious volleyball tournament, the Best of the West, on Friday and Saturday. The two-day tournament is in San Diego, not too far from the site of CdM’s opener in the CIF State SoCal Regional.
On the basketball court, Moss, Fults, Kobrine and Ctvrtlik combined for 26 points, more than half of CdM’s total. Fifteen of those points came in the final quarter, allowing CdM, which went into the fourth with a 27-26 lead, to pull away.
Ctvrtlik had all of his six points in the fourth, while Fults chipped in five of his seven and Moss contributed four points in the quarter. The Sea Kings outscored El Cajon Valley, 19-7, in the fourth, limiting the host school to three-for-14 shooting.
The defensive play by Moss and Ryan Stone proved to be crucial in holding the Braves to a season-low 33 points, almost 30 points below their per game average. Stone, who finished with seven points and three steals, slowed down Ibrahim Ali, who had seven points, nine below his season average.
“Without those two on defense,” Schachter said of Stone and Moss, “we’re not winning the game.”
Schachter called the sluggish game the worst his team has been a part since the start of its undefeated Pacific Coast League title run in January. Things got dicey when Ronne Readus cut CdM’s lead to 29-28 early in the fourth, giving the forward 13 points to go with his 11 rebounds and three steals.
Nevertheless, CdM’s big man answered with a putback. Moss sparked a 9-0 run, the last three Fults scored on a three-point play with 2:48 to go. Nineteen seconds later, El Cajon Valley’s Syon Hicks ended the run with a jumper, making it a six-point game.
Hicks, who played an instrumental role in El Cajon Valley (25-7) claiming the CIF San Diego Section Division III title, its first section crown in the program’s history, didn’t start the game. Coach Marty Ellis said he sat his senior guard for most of the opening quarter because he had a bad practice.
The Braves’ best shooter never found his rhythm, going two of 11 to finish with six points, eight below his season average. The player who came off the bench in the first quarter to produce was Ryan Kleinman, who jumpstarted the Sea Kings with seven points, resulting in CdM taking a 16-6 lead.
Kleinman contributed to CdM knocking down 15 of 17 free throws. St. Geme and Ctvrtlik hit each of their four shots from the charity stripe in a fourth quarter in which the Sea Kings were a perfect nine of nine.
Up next is Damien, the same school that ended CdM’s season in the CIF Southern Section Division 3AA playoffs two seasons ago. St. Geme and Fults played in that 61-53 loss at CdM, where guard Jeremy Hemsley ripped CdM for 25 points to lift Damien to its first section finals appearance.
“He’s one of the best players we’ve played against [during my nine seasons in charge of] CdM, and that was when he was a sophomore,” Schachter said of Hemsley, who’s now a senior bound for San Diego State. “I hope we’re ready to play.”
Before the Sea Kings began the state tournament, Schachter checked to see if Moss, Fults, Kobrine and Ctvrtlik were ready to continue playing basketball, with the volleyball season getting underway.
“It’s up to you guys,” Schachter said he told the two-sport standouts. “You guys want the season to end tonight?”
The four responded with a resounding no.
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CIF State Southern California Regional Division III playoffs
First round
Corona del Mar 46, El Cajon Valley 33
SCORE BY QUARTERS
CdM 16 – 6 – 5 – 19 — 46
ECV 6 – 12 – 8 – 7 — 33
CdM – Moss 10, Kleinman 7, Fults 7, Stone 7, Ctvrtlik 6, St. Geme 4, Kobrine 3, Ridge 2.
3-pt. goals – Kobrine 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
ECV – Readus 13, Ali 7, Hicks 6, Garcia 3, Rumley 2, Afaisen 2.
3-pt. goals – Garcia 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.