4-A Division : History Doesn’t Repeat Itself as Mission Viejo Stops Foothill

Bob Minier, Mission Viejo High School basketball coach, was well aware of Foothill’s outside shooting ability and its 54% regular-season field-goal percentage.

He also knew how good Foothill was on its home court, where the Knights lost only once this season and where they’ve won 90% of their games during the past five years.

So, Minier did like any good coach would in preparing his team for Friday night’s Southern Section 4-A playoff game against Foothill.

“I didn’t even mention those things to my kids,” he said.

What the Diablos didn’t know didn’t hurt them.

Mission Viejo came into the Knights’ gym and outshot and outplayed Foothill on its way to a 54-36 first-round victory in front of about 2,000. The Diablos (21-6) will meet third-seeded Muir High of Pasadena in Tuesday’s second round. Foothill closed its season at 19-6.

Jeff Herdman, a 6-foot 5-inch forward, led Mission Viejo with 17 points, including 9 in the second period, and 6-7 center Tim Knowles added 13 points.

Foothill, for the second straight game, was betrayed by its own shooting. The Knights, who shot 41% in last week’s loss to Santa Ana, made just 16 of 47 shots for 34% Friday night.

Guard Derek Johnson, Foothill’s leading scorer with a 17.4 average, was one of nine from the floor and scored just four. He was 4 of 18 against Santa Ana last week. Guard Doug Kopcha had the hot hand in the first half and finished with 10 points, but made just 5 of 13 shots.

The only bright spot for Foothill was the play of 6-4 forward Mike Grahovac, who made 7 of 14 shots and scored 15 points. But the Knights lost the other half of their inside game when 6-5 center Alan Schlines, who injured his foot in last week’s game against Santa Ana, came out after playing half of the first quarter Friday night.

“That hurt us, but we shot poorly again,” Jim Reames, Foothill coach said. “They had something to do with that. They’re a big team with a lot of weapons, so there are no excuses.”

Foothill scored the first basket Friday night, but that was the Knights’ only lead. They were forced to play catch-up the entire game and threatened the Diablos several times, but couldn’t put together a big run.

Mission Viejo built a 10-point lead with three minutes to play in the second quarter, but Foothill came back on the strength of Dave Rasmussen’s jumper and two inside baskets by Grahovac to pull to within five, 28-23, at halftime.

The Diablos went ahead by 11 (34-23) midway through the third quarter until the Knights reeled off seven straight points to cut it to 34-30 with 1:43 left in the period.

But Scott Pedersen, who finished with eight points, made two baskets in the final 1:30 to put Mission Viejo in front, 38-30, heading into the fourth period.

The Diablos then outscored the Knights, 8-2, at the start the final period to put the game away.

“As long as we maintained the lead, we were in good shape,” Minier said. “With our zone (the Diablos played a 3-2 with Pedersen harassing Foothill shooters at the top of the key) and our rebounding, we’re gonna be tough to score against.”