Boys’ Basketball: A Berokoff family affair
Sixteen years ago, Jeff Berokoff went to go watch his older brother, Mark, coach a small Christian high school in a CIF Southern Section boys’ basketball final.
Now it’s Mark’s turn to see Jeff guide a small Christian school in a section championship game. And Mark has traveled a long way for this moment.
Mark said he has only seen Jeff coach once on the varsity level. The second game will feature Jeff’s Pacifica Christian team against Riverside Carnegie in the Division 6 finale at Godinez High on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Distance and coaching obligations have made it difficult for the brothers to get together during the basketball season. Mark is the head coach at Randall University in Moore, Okla., and Jeff has been busy building a program from scratch at Pacifica Christian in Newport Beach.
While his men’s basketball team prepares to defend its National Christian College Athletic Assn. Division II title, Mark took some time off to support Jeff. He flew out of Oklahoma City on Thursday morning, and he spent the last couple of days working with his brother’s staff and team.
“We’re right in the middle of getting ready to go to the national tournament next week in Iowa, but I’m not going to miss this,” Mark said of being there for his only sibling. “I’m not even getting ready for my own tournament. I’ve been watching film on my brother’s opponent.”
From what the Berokoff brothers can tell from viewing games on Carnegie is Carnegie isn’t a Division 6-caliber team. They believe Carnegie can compete with schools in higher playoff divisions.
The Wolverines are tall, skilled and experienced. As a first-year varsity program, experience is one thing Pacifica Christian lacks.
Four freshmen — Dominick Harris, Cal Whitney, Timmy Bahadoor and Josh Sims — will start for the No. 2-seeded Tritons (23-3) against the No. 1 Wolverines (17-6).
They are facing a daunting starting five, with 7-foot senior Luka Filipovic, who is averaging 18.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, 6-7 senior forward Nikola Ilic (10.1 points and eight rebounds), and 6-5 junior guard Kostas Altinis (11.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, 4.9 steals and 1.2 blocks). The other two starting guards are 6-2 senior Kresimir Jerkov (10.2 points and 4.1 assists) and 6-3 junior Julio Arocha (9.1 points and 3.9 steals).
The 10 Carnegie games Jeff has seen feature most of the team’s current roster.
“I think they’ve had 11 to 13 kids that were sitting out [the first 30 days of the season because they were transfers], all international kids,” Jeff said of the Wolverines, the runner-up finisher from the Arrowhead League.
“But they’re in our division, so we’ve got to face them, and at this point, everybody’s got to play somebody really good.”
For Pacifica Christian, Carnegie might be the best team it will have played this season. A handful of Carnegie’s contests have come against reputable programs.
In January and on a neutral court, the Wolverines pulled out a 62-60 win against Corona del Mar, a CIF Southern Section Division 1A quarterfinalist. During that same month, Carnegie lost, 56-46, to Poway, a CIF San Diego Section Division I quarterfinalist, at a neutral site. On the last day in January, Carnegie picked up a 68-52 win at Riverside Sherman Indian, a CIF Southern Section Division 5A finalist.
Right before the postseason began in mid-February, the Wolverines played a nonleague game at Los Angeles Cathedral, a CIF Southern Section Division 1AA program. They lost, 64-55.
Two of the three teams Pacifica Christian lost to this season were Saddleback Valley Christian and Capistrano Valley Christian. Those teams made the CIF Southern Section Division 3AA playoffs, Saddleback Valley Christian exited in the second round and Capistrano Valley in the first round. The third setback was to Gardena Executive Prep Academy of Finance, which failed to reach the Division 3A playoffs.
None of those teams the Tritons have played pose the kind of problems Carnegie’s size gives opponents.
Pacifica Christian’s biggest and oldest player is 6-10 center Josh Griffith. He’s the only junior on the team with six freshmen and three sophomores.
With Carnegie’s height advantage, Jeff said the Tritons would have to make some adjustments. But he doesn’t want his team to get away from pushing the ball up the court.
One thing Jeff is certain about is that his players don’t back down from anybody.
“This is historic for them,” Jeff said. “Just laying the foundation for future Tritons to come here and to be a part of that. This is a special time for these guys.”
Mark knows how extraordinary it is for a private school the size of Pacifica Christian (95 students) to make a section finals appearance. His teams advanced twice, first at Heritage Christian, which is now called Eastside Christian, in Division VA in 1999-00, and at Downey Calvary Chapel in Division VAA in 2000-01.
“The second one always is easier,” said Mark, who has given Jeff advice about reaching this stage in the season. “You might never get back to this point, so really enjoy it. The first one I didn’t enjoy as much as the second one. Granted we won the second one. It just went so fast.
“He’s had a very interesting high school coaching journey. He’s taken on some programs [Pomona and El Modena] that weren’t very good and got them to be a lot better. He’s done it the right way. It’s exciting to see him to take over a program and as a first-year varsity program go to the CIF final. I don’t think people realize how hard it is to get to a CIF final. You have to have a lot of things go right, and when you’re playing with a bunch of freshmen, freshmen do freshmen things. My freshmen do some funny things. Imagine if it’s a 14- or 15-year-old.”
Those youngsters, under Jeff Berokoff, are on the cusp of making history.
The 36-year-old Berokoff has Pacifica Christian a win away from becoming the first boys’ basketball team in Orange County to claim a section crown in its debut varsity season.
Mark, 42, hopes his brother’s team can pull it off. He will have a front-row seat.
“I’m going to sit with them on the bench,” Mark said. “I’ll be at the end of the bench and give the water.”
Twitter: @ByDCP
