South Coast League : Mission Viejo Struggles but Rallies Past Irvine

Mission Viejo High School guard Jeff Billups made three free throws in the final 11 seconds to give the Diablos a 54-51 win over Irvine Friday in South Coast League play at University High.

Irvine’s loss, coupled with El Toro’s 61-53 win over San Clemente, left the teams tied for third place in the seven-team league at 7-5. They will meet in a playoff game at 6:30 tonight at University to determine the league’s No. 3 representative for the CIF Southern Section 4-A division playoffs.

Irvine is trying to gain its first playoff appearance in the school’s 10-year history. The Vaqueros appeared to be playoff bound early in the fourth quarter when they opened a five-point lead, but managed to score only two points in the last four minutes of play.

Mission Viejo struggled through most of the game, but outscored Irvine, 12-5, in the last quarter to pull out the win. The Diablos finished second in the league with a 10-2 record but the Diablos appear to be slumping as they enter the postseason tournament.

“Right now, we’re not a playoff team,” said Bob Minier, Mission Viejo coach. “We’re in a slump, and I don’t know what the problem is. Maybe we need to take three or four days off before the playoffs start.”

The playoffs are scheduled to begin next Friday. A little time off may be just what the Diablos need. They committed 18 turnovers and made only 21 of 46 shot attempts. Jeff Herdman was the only consistent player, scoring 19 points.

Still, the Diablos managed to stay close and then took control down the stretch. Herdman scored on a short bank shot with 2:27 remaining to tie the score, 51-51, and then the Vaqueros committed a critical turnover with 22 seconds left to give Mission Viejo the chance to win.

Billups, who had scored only two points, was fouled with 11 seconds to play and made both ends of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity to push Mission Viejo ahead, 53-51. The Vaqueros had two shots at tying the game, but Mike Herring missed a 15-foot jump shot and John Littler’s tip was off.

Tim Knowles rebounded the missed shots for Mission Viejo and threw an outlet pass to Billups, who was fouled with one second remaining. Billups made another free throw and sealed the win for the Diablos.

“The turnover with 22 seconds left killed us,” said Al Herring, Irvine coach. “We should have called a timeout sooner, but that’s second guessing on my part, and I’m not going to second guess my kids after they played so hard.”

Instead, Herring will have his team back at University tonight for the playoff game. The Vaqueros have met El Toro three times this year, defeating the Chargers twice by a total of seven points and losing by three points.

“We would have liked to have won tonight and avoided the extra game,” Herring said. “We match up well with El Toro, and I don’t think they’re as physical as Mission Viejo. If we play as hard as we did tonight, we have a good chance of making the playoffs.”

El Toro 61, San Clemente 53--The Chargers made 21 of 32 free-throws to earn a share of third place and set up the playoff with Irvine. Jeff Stone scored 16 points and teammate Cory Wayland added 14 points for El Toro.

El Toro also limited San Clemente’s Gary Wade, the seventh-leading scorer in Orange County with a 22.8 average, to 15 points. John McGraw led the Tritons with 18 points.

Dana Hills 65, Laguna Hills 53--Dave Cmelak scored 22 points and Eddie Esteban added 21 points as the Dolphins closed the season with their only league win at Laguna Hills High. Greg Nelson led the Hawks with 10 points.