Athlete of the Week: Calderon enjoys ride with Costa Mesa

Chris Calderon lives a bounce pass away from Newport Harbor High, but he found his home at Costa Mesa.

The mornings are the hardest for Calderon. He no longer can walk across the street and go to school. He cannot sleep in a few minutes more as he used to during the school week.

The trip to Costa Mesa isn’t always easy for Calderon. His mom, Lorena, is the first one to remind him of his decision to transfer out of Newport Harbor to Costa Mesa after his freshman year.

“Every time I ask for a ride, my mom always says, ‘It’s your fault for moving [schools],’” Calderon said.

Calderon doesn’t respond because mom is always right and he doesn’t have time. He has to get ready quickly.

By car, it takes Calderon 15 minutes to drive from Newport Beach to Costa Mesa. When his mom doesn’t give him a ride, Calderon rides his bike, the bus, or he uses his skateboard to get to school.

By bike, it’s 30 minutes, by bus 35 minutes and by skateboard 40 minutes. Calderon has taken all forms of transportation, and all have been worth it to him.

Calderon left Newport Harbor because he wanted to contribute more as a basketball player. He wanted to make an impact.

In his senior year at Costa Mesa, Calderon has done both.

Entering this week, the Mustangs were on the brink of making history. Two wins this week and Costa Mesa brings home its third league title in the program’s history.

Calderon put the Mustangs in position the week before. He did what Coach Phil Weber asked of him. Be a scorer at Laguna Beach one night, and two nights later, go back to being a defensive stopper at archrival Estancia.

The guard delivered on each occasion. He turned in his best game of his career against the Breakers, a team Costa Mesa had not beaten in nine years.

Calderon rallied the Mustangs from a six-point deficit in the fourth quarter, scoring 11 of his 20 points in the final quarter, and he saved his best shot at the end.

Fourteen seconds after the Breakers turned the ball over on a possible game-clinching fastbreak opportunity, Calderon made the most of the Mustangs’ chance. They called a timeout with 13 seconds to go, going over what play they planned to run. The Mustangs trailed by one, and Weber gave out instructions.

“He was like, ‘You know what? We’re going to run a pick-and-roll for Chris. Attack like you have been attacking the whole game and try to knock it down,’” Calderon said.

Calderon looked unstoppable in the fourth, making four of his first six shots. He hurt Laguna Beach with a three-pointer two minutes into the fourth, a jumper midway through the fourth, in the paint with 3½ minutes left, and a drive to the basket with two minutes to go.

Costa Mesa needed Calderon to make another shot, and he delivered in the clutch.

Nabeel Salameh inbounded the ball to Calderon, who drove inside the paint, where he pulled up for a five-foot jumper, nailing it to give the Mustangs a 55-54 lead with six seconds remaining. Two seconds ran off the clock before the Breakers called a timeout.

With four seconds to work with, Laguna Beach launched a long pass and Calderon came up with the steal, sealing the Mustangs’ first win at Laguna Beach in 14 years. After pulling off the upset, Calderon and the Mustangs jumped as if they had won the league crown. They had moved into a tie for first place with Laguna Beach, which suffered its first setback in league.

“The pressure wasn’t on us, it was on them to win and remain undefeated,” Calderon said. “We just came and executed. All of my teammates were like super focused in that game. We got to beat them. That was our game.”

Three games remained for Costa Mesa. The next one was the biggest in Costa Mesa, last week’s Battle for the Bell against Estancia. In that contest, it was Calderon’s job to slow down Estancia’s top scorer, Evan Pettingill.

As he did the first time around, Calderon frustrated Pettingill with his defense. For the second time against the Mustangs this season, Pettingill failed to reach double figures. He finished with nine points, almost seven points below his season average, on four-for-14 shooting.

The Mustangs prevailed, 57-40, and swept the two-game series with Estancia, claiming the rivalry for the fourth time in five seasons, but what mattered most to Calderon was that his team stayed atop the league with Laguna Beach.

The final two league games took place this week, both at home, Tuesday against Godinez and Thursday against Saddleback. The first one ended the Mustangs’ hopes of sharing their first league championship in 10 years. Costa Mesa lost to Godinez, 52-48.

Laguna Beach defeated host Estancia on the same night, 71-31, and it took sole possession of first. The Breakers’ next opponent would be at home against Calvary Chapel. After thrashing the worst team in league on Tuesday, the Breakers weren’t going to lose to the second worst team in league on Thursday.

Thursday was the night Costa Mesa honored its 11 seniors. It was supposed to be the night Calderon and the Mustangs went from worst to first in league.

The contest that cost them was the one against Godinez, which won the league title last year, and the Grizzlies’ 1-3-1 zone affected the Mustangs. Weber said Godinez’s defensive strategy was the only thing he didn’t go over in practice with his team. He said he wasn’t expecting to see it.

“At halftime, we were all in shock like, ‘Oh, God! They came to play,’” said Calderon, whose team trailed the Grizzlies, 33-24, at the break.

“Afterward, most of the team was crying, literally in tears. We worked our way up for senior year to try and win league, and we [fell short].”

The runner-up finish is still an accomplishment for Costa Mesa, which improved to 16-12 overall, a seven-win improvement from a year ago, with a 68-54 win against Saddleback.

A year after the Mustangs split last place with Estancia at 2-8, they finished 8-2 in league, one game back of Laguna Beach, which captured its ninth title in the Orange Coast League. The second-place finish marked Costa Mesa’s second in three seasons and its .800 winning percentage is the program’s best during its 10 years in the Orange Coast League.

The goal now for the Mustangs comes in the CIF Southern Section Division 4AA playoffs, which start next week. Calderon wants to leave Costa Mesa with a postseason win, something the school last achieved four years ago.

The last two playoff appearances haven’t been too kind to the Mustangs since Calderon joined the program. They lost at Westlake Village Oaks Christian, 62-36, last year, and at home to Studio City Harvard-Westlake, 64-48, two years ago.

Those setbacks haven’t taken anything away from Calderon’s experience at Costa Mesa. What helped Calderon enjoy his time with the Mustangs was having around Calvin Ko, who also transferred to Costa Mesa from Newport Harbor after his freshman year.

“At first, it was hard, me and Calvin at lunch, we’d always hang out just alone, have no friends,” Calderon said. “We were like, ‘What are we going to do? Do you want to go back?’ We were like, ‘No, no. Let’s stick to basketball.’ Over there [at Newport Harbor] … we didn’t get as much playing time.

“I love it here [at Costa Mesa]. It’s not only just basketball. I’ve created some of my best friends [here].”

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Chris Calderon

Born: March 16, 1998

Hometown: Aliso Viejo

Height: 5-foot-7

Weight: 170 pounds

Sport: Basketball

Year: Senior

Coach: Phil Weber

Favorite food: Pineapple pizza

Favorite movie: “Forrest Gump”

Favorite athletic moment: Beating Laguna Beach, 55-54, Costa Mesa’s first win against the Breakers in eight years.

Week in review: Calderon hit the game-winning shot, finishing with 20 points and lifting Costa Mesa to a 55-54 upset win at Laguna Beach. He slowed down Estancia’s best scorer in a 57-40 win at Estancia, sweeping the Battle for the Bell rivalry.