Coast Christmas Tournament : Corona del Mar’s Fryer Hits When He Has to in Win

Jeff Fryer, Corona del Mar High School forward, showed he was human Saturday night when he actually missed more shots than he made in the Sea Kings’ semifinal game against Mission Viejo in the Coast Christmas Tournament at Estancia High School.

Followers of the Corona del Mar basketball team are usually shocked when Fryer misses two straight shots, which he did several times Saturday night.

But the sharp-shooting senior came through when it counted, hitting two shots in the final two minutes and making two free throws with two seconds remaining to ensure the Sea Kings’ 54-51 victory over the Diablos. Corona del Mar (10-1) will play Dominguez Monday night for the tournament championship.

Fryer made 10 of 21 shots from the field and finished with a game-high 26 points, but his performance was almost wasted as the Sea Kings blew a 13-point, third-quarter lead. Mission Viejo’s Rich Brown made a free throw with 2:27 to play to bring the Diablos to within one, 46-45.

But Fryer took a nice inside pass from Doug Green and scored with two minutes remaining to give the Sea Kings a three-point cushion. After Jeff Herdman, who led Mission Viejo with 23 points, made two free throws to make it 48-47, Fryer scored again, this time hitting a jump shot with 1:36 to go for a 50-47 lead.

Tim Kelly’s jumper brought Mission Viejo back, but Sea King point guard Tod Bearbower, who had 14 points and 9 assists, made both ends of a one-and-one to keep Corona del Mar up by three. The Diablos cut it to one when Todd Mathews scored with four seconds left, but Fryer sealed the victory with two free throws.

MISSION VIEJO (51)--Mathews 6, Barrett 12, Herdman 23, Brown 6, Kelly 2, Aldrian 2.

CORONA DEL MAR (54)--Bearbower 14, Green 7, Fryer 26, Turner 6, Christiansen 1.

In other Coast Christmas Tournament action:

Dominguez 59, Estancia 49--Ronnie Coleman, Dominguez’s 6-5 forward scored a game-high 18 points, and guard Marlon Vaughn added 10 points as the Dons (7-4) defeated the Eagles to earn a berth in Monday night’s championship game opposite Corona del Mar.

DOMINGUEZ (59)--Vaughn 10, Ingram 5, Elliott 9, Coleman 18, Williams 8, Washington 3, Ceballos 6.

ESTANCIA (49)--Baker 2, Mooney 9, Brazell 9, Trejo 11, Tift 14, Covey 4.

Edison 76, California 59--Forward Ken Ammann scored a game-high 32 points to lead the Chargers to the easy win in the fifth-place semifinals. The Chargers led by 10 points after the first quarter and by 16 at the half. Rich Smith added 11 points for Edison.

EDISON (76)--Margulies 8, Ammann 32, Smith 11, Hanan 1, Cole 9, Ayres 2, Henderson 6, Prince 7.

CALIFORNIA (59)--Churchward 10, Hoffert 4, D. Juarez 2, R. Juarez 2, Moran 9, Nethington 4, Nungaray 8, Saldana 11, Tomachoff 4, Vellone 5.

Huntington Beach 76, Cypress 69--Center Chris Yoxtheimer scored 20 points and had 8 rebounds to lead the Oilers. Huntington Beach will play Edison Monday for fifth place.

CYPRESS (69)--Civitelli 8, Weaver 4, O’Leary 4, Cote 4, Reese 4, Kawcemura 5, Evans 1, Bumgarner 2, Yoxtheimer 20, Aguirre 17.

HUNTINGTON BEACH (76)--Vitz 3, Pariseau 19, Kao 10, Pemper 14, Moberly 3, Snow 9, Jensen 2, Brazzel 16.

Santa Ana Valley 65, Warren 61--Mike Witlock scored 16 of his 24 points in the second and third quarters to lead a Falcon comeback in the consolation semifinals. Alonzo Jamison added 16 points for the Falcons, who will play Irvine for the consolation championship Monday.

SANTA ANA VALLEY (65)--Jamison 16, Bentley 8, Alvarez 4, Witlock 24, Ross 8, Acosta 1, Quinn.

WARREN (61)--Dominguez 10, Fendry 20, Hawthorne 10, Alihuth 10, Pattillo 4, Slaughter 7.

Irvine 76, Iolani 67--Forward Scott Tamura had 22 points, including 6 in the second quarter for the Vaqueros.

IOLANI (67)--Brosteck 13, Clifford 25, Abad 2, Kealoha 12, Turvoid 7, Winchester 2, Wheeler 6.

IRVINE (76)--Patchell 6, Tamura 22, Moceri 8, Raye 16, Snoddy 14, Ballantyne 9, Petersen 1.