PREP BASKETBALL : Southern Section 4-A Playoffs : Mission Viejo Is Beaten by North Once Again, 44-42

The Mission Viejo High School basketball team’s season came to a disappointing end as the Diablos fell but two points shy of the team that has become its playoff tormentor.

Last season, the Diablos suffered a 16-point loss to John W. North of Riverside in the Southern Section 3-A semifinals, only to watch the Huskies go on to the division championship.

On Tuesday night in the second round of 4-A playoff action, North prevailed again, 44-42, in front of 2,000 fans in El Toro High’s gym.

Judging by the faces of the Mission Viejo players as they left the court following the game, 16-point losses are much easier to tolerate than two-point ones. The defeat was a bittersweet ending to a season in which the Diablos (23-5) had otherwise managed to come up with the big plays en route to the South Coast League championship.

As it was, the game was a testament to the Diablos’ fortitude. They twice came back from the brink of being blown out by the Huskies, only to fall just short at the end. North took big leads late in both halves, but the Diablos responded both times before the Huskies ultimately prevailed.

“We made a nice comeback there,” Mission Viejo Coach Bob Minier said, “but we made just too many mistakes to win a playoff game, especially at the end.”

Minier was referring to two occasions when the Diablos had the ball and a chance to tie the score, but both times they turned the ball over.

The first time came with 25 seconds left and North nursing a 42-40 lead. Diablo guard Tom Desiano passed to Mike Minier, the coach’s son, who had worked his way into the lane for what looked like good position for a short jump shot.

When Minier put the ball on the floor for a quick dribble before his shot, a defender got tangled with him and forced a traveling call.

“I got hit hard with a body,” Mike Minier said of the play, “and either he landed on me or bumped me, but either way I thought there was a foul there and not traveling.”

The Diablos then used a full-court press against the Huskies’ ensuing inbound play, but North’s Derrick Robinson, a 5-foot 9-inch point guard, deftly dribbled through traffic. He found fellow guard Enoch Simmons free on the wing on a three-on-one fast break, and Simmons went in for an emphatic dunk.

Still, Mission Viejo would not go peacefully. The Diablos pushed the ball right back up the court following Simmons’ dunk and Minier hit a 22-foot jump shot from the top of the key.

That basket cut the Huskies’ lead to 44-42 with 13 seconds to play.

This time on the in-bound play, the Diablos fouled Robbie Washington, sending him to the free throw line with 12 seconds left. Washington was given two shots because the foul by David Hill was ruled intentional. It was Hill’s fifth foul.

Washington missed both free throws to give the Diablos one more chance to tie the game.

The Diablos got the rebound and pushed the ball up the court, but a pass bounced off of Minier’s leg and went out of bounds.

With four seconds left and North possessing the ball and the lead, the Diablos still refused to succumb. Colbert Calhoun was fouled and sent to the free throw line with two seconds to play.

Calhoun missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Diablos again rebounded, but a length-of-the-court baseball toss at the buzzer was wide, with both the game and the Diablos’ season finally expiring.

Mike Minier was upset with himself because of the two missed opportunities. But without his deft shooting, the game, a matchup between a half-court offense and a running attack, would never have been close in the first place.

Minier led all scorers with 20 points and twice keyed comebacks.

With Mission Viejo trailing, 16-6, in the second quarter, Minier scored three the Diablos’ four consecutive baskets to put them back in the game before the Huskies took a 22-17 halftime lead.

Trailing 40-30 in the fourth quarter, Minier scored 6 of his team’s last 12 points.

North (22-3), which beat El Modena in the first round of the playoffs last Friday, advances to the final eight where it must face Lynwood (24-1).