South Coast League : Mission Viejo Stops Irvine, 70-52

Led by Jeff Herdman’s 23 points, Mission Viejo High School overcame a slow start to gain a 70-52 victory over Irvine (3-3, 11-10) Friday night at Mission Viejo.

Herdman, a 6-foot 5-inch junior forward, turned in one of his finest performances despite being sick this week.

“He really played a solid all around game,” Mission Viejo Coach Bob Minier said. “He did a little of everything for us tonight and it was a big lift for us early in the game when we weren’t playing that well.”

The Diablos (5-1, 15-5) trailed for most of the first half, but led by Herdman, Mission Viejo went on a 12-2 spurt in the final 4:30 of the second quarter to tie the game, 29-29, at the end of first half.

“A game is full of peaks and valleys,” Minier said. “And sooner or later one team will have to come down while the other team lifts their game and that’s clearly what happened tonight. We started working the ball around and finally got the high percentage shots we wanted.”

In the second half, the familiar trio of Herdman, Tim Knowles (21 points), and Scott Pederson (12 points) helped the Diablos establish their first substantial lead of the game, 43-37, with 1:09 left in the third quarter. The Vaqueros never drew closer than six points after that.

Forward Doug Barrett added 10 points, all in the final quarter, for the Diablos.

“Our defense was really what got us back into the game,” Minier said. “It didn’t really affect them at first, but it gradually created problems for them and we started to force some things. The defense has been our saving grace all season.”

Somewhat overshadowed by the victory was another fine performance by Irvine center Mike Herring, who led the Vaqueros with 19 points.

IRVINE (52)--Raye 5, Littler 6, Snoddy 2, Tamuru 6, Herring 19, Oden 4, Patchell 11.

MISSION VIEJO (70)--Knowles 21, Pederson 12, Herdman 23, Stringam 2, Barrett 10, Matthews 2.

In other South Coast League action:

Laguna Hills 31, Dana Hills 30--With three seconds left and the host Dolphins trailing, 31-29, Jeff Duby missed a 20-foot shot from the corner, but he was fouled on the play. He made his first free throw but missed the second, and Dana Hills (0-6, 6-9) remained winless in league play. The Hawks (1-5, 3-12) were led by Chris Sheff’s eight points.

LAGUNA HILLS (31)--Nelson 5, Hardy 4, Kawada 6, Sheff 8, Morvic 2, Still 2, Stickney 4.

DANA HILLS (30)--Esteban 6, Loyd 7, Lyon 2, Cmelak 8, Duby 7.

El Toro 73, San Clemente 68-- The Chargers upped their league record to 4-1 and 10-7 overall with a victory over the Tritons (1-4, 8-10) on their home floor.

Bret Johnson and Jeff Stone, both sophomores, led El Toro with 21 and 15 points respectively while another sophomore, Eric Speaker, grabbed 12 rebounds and 17 points to help the Chargers.

Gary Wade of San Clemente scored 35 to keep the Tritons close, but it wasn’t enough.

SAN CLEMENTE (68)--Wade 35, McGraw 4, Steadman 4, Love 8, Valdez 11, Koetsell 2, Burrows 4.

EL TORO (73)--Stone 15, Johnson 21, Wayland 10, Speaker 17, Tobey 3, Hargy 3, Vinson 4.