Athlete of the Week: Tufuga is Mesa’s man

Mason Tufuga loves to play. The more the merrier for him.

Tufuga is the same athlete who has played football, basketball, baseball, volleyball and golf at Costa Mesa High. Basketball is in session right now for the 6-foot-6 senior.

A week ago, on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Tufuga arrived at Costa Mesa at 8 in the morning for a team shootaround. Tufuga had a game later that day, at 7:30 against Newport Harbor.

The contest featuring two Newport-Mesa Unified School District schools was the nightcap of a one-day showcase honoring former Costa Mesa player and coach Mike Molina’s late friend, Jeff Long, who passed away from testicular cancer four years ago at the age of 22.

Tufuga and the Mustangs also wound up opening the event because one team decided not to show up for its 10:30 game against Montebello Schurr. Tufuga and the Mustangs knew nothing about Schurr. They had just seen Schurr’s players trickle into the gym at around 9, by the time Costa Mesa’s shootaround was ending.

Tufuga wasn’t even in the gym when he got a phone call from his mother, Yvette, an hour later about him and the Mustangs having to play Schurr. He was at home. Coach Phil Weber had sent his players home.

Weber had no idea Santiago backed out of the game, until he didn’t see Santiago in the gym.

“We were frantically calling everyone” on our team to come back, Weber said.

Weber somehow got a hold of his players. The Mustangs were playing Schurr.

When Tufuga got the call, he was ready.

“I was like, ‘All right. It’s just going to happen,’” Tufuga said. “It was a great test for us as a team.”

Tufuga and the rest of the team made it in time to tip off the game around 10:45. The contest was the start of a successful week for Tufuga and the Mustangs.

They played four games in five days, winning three of them. During the stretch, Tufuga averaged 14.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.

Tufuga finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, helping Costa Mesa easily get past Schurr, 63-45. Afterward, Weber advised his players to stay off their feet.

“I laid down and I got some rest like coach told me to,” said Tufuga, who was looking forward to the Mustangs’ next game in Coach Mike’s Long Shot Challenge.

Tufuga and the Mustangs returned to Costa Mesa at 6, to catch the Corona del Mar game against San Bernardino. Two Costa Mesa senior guards in particular couldn’t wait to get on the court 90 minutes later and face Newport Harbor.

“We have two guys [Calvin Ko and Chris Calderon] that were very passionate about playing Newport Harbor because they came from Newport Harbor,” Tufuga said. “I don’t know [why they transferred after they attended Newport Harbor as freshmen]. All I know is … this was their game for this year. They wanted to end their relationship … with that school with a bang. They wanted to win. We came real close.”

The only setback last week for Costa Mesa came against the Sailors. Newport Harbor held on for a 62-60 win, seeing Calderon’s possible game-winning three at the buzzer hit the backboard.

Ko, Tufuga and Calderon tried to team up at the end and upset the then-No. 10 ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Division 2AA poll. Right after Charlie Stassel put the Sailors up with a layup with three seconds left, the Mustangs called a timeout. Ko, who had 28 points, almost half of the Mustangs’ total, would deliver the long inbound pass to Tufuga past midcourt, then Tufuga would go to Calderon for a three.

Everything worked, except for the shot going in.

Even though Costa Mesa lost, Tufuga, who had 13 points and 11 rebounds against the Sailors, called the Newport Harbor game the best of the season.

The games that really matter to Tufuga are the ones in the Orange Coast League. They played two on the road after losing to the Sailors, beating Godinez, 54-52, and Saddleback, 53-42. Tufuga averaged 13.5 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks per game in those two victories last week that put Costa Mesa at 4-1 in league, one game back of first-place Laguna Beach.

Laguna Beach is the one team the Mustangs have been unable to beat since the 2006-07 season. The Breakers have defeated Costa Mesa twice this season, the first was a 60-20 win during a game in the Godinez tournament on Dec. 5, and the second was a 60-51 league win at Costa Mesa on Jan. 13.

Tufuga missed the first meeting with Laguna Beach because of a commitment to his Lake Forest-based Orange Coast Volleyball Club. Weber said his players understand why Tufuga wasn’t around.

“They get it,” Weber said. “They know volleyball is important to him and that’s kind of his meal ticket right now.”

Tufuga is heading to Stanford to play volleyball. He has the smarts, he said he has a 4.3 overall grade-point average, and the abilities as an opposite to excel on the next level.

With his club volleyball season over, Tufuga said he would be there when the Mustangs (13-11, 5-1 in league) travel to Laguna Beach, ranked 9 in Division 4AA, on Wednesday.

“We have to win out now,” Tufuga said of keeping the Mustangs’ league title hopes alive. “[Laguna Beach] is a tough place to win, but if any group is going to do it, I think it will be us this year.

“[Laguna Beach is] the game I want every year.”

There’s a reason for that. Tufuga has never beaten the Breakers in basketball, baseball, volleyball or golf.

Tufuga said he’s only playing basketball and volleyball in his final year at Costa Mesa. There’s one more shot at Laguna Beach in basketball for Tufuga.

“That’s probably the best way to describe it, it’s getting over the hump,” Tufuga said.

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Mason Tufuga

Born: July 1, 1997

Hometown: Costa Mesa

Height: 6-foot-6

Weight: 215 pounds

Sport: Basketball

Year: Senior

Coach: Phil Weber

Favorite food: Wet burrito from Cancun Fresh Mexican Grill

Favorite movie: “The Dark Knight”

Favorite athletic moment: The Battle for the Bell boys’ basketball game two years ago at Costa Mesa.

Week in review: Tufuga averaged 14.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, helping the Mustangs go 3-1, including two wins in Orange Coast League play.