SOUTHERN SECTION PLAYOFFS : Capistrano Valley’s Fourth-Period Burst Blisters Diamond Bar

One good quarter of play was all Capistrano Valley High School needed to defeat Diamond Bar, 76-65, Friday night in front of 2,200 fans in Cal Poly Pomona’s Kellogg Gymnasium.

Capistrano Valley (25-4) advanced to the semifinals of the Southern Section’s 4-A division playoffs for the fifth time in the past seven years with a 26-point explosion in the last quarter. The Cougars made 7 of 9 field goal attempts (including two three-point baskets) and 10 of 13 free throws in the final quarter.

For three quarters, Capistrano Valley struggled, making only 18 of 47 field goal attempts, but still managed to deadlock Diamond Bar, 50-50. Then suddenly, the Cougars got hot.

Todd Marinovich opened the last period with a three-point shot and teammate Charles Lockard stole a pass and scored on a layup as Capistrano Valley struck quickly for a 55-50 lead. Three minutes later, Marinovich sealed Diamond Bar’s fate with a four-point play for 63-56 lead.

“It hurts anybody when you get a four-point play and Todd really hurt them with that play,” said Mark Thornton, Capistrano Valley coach.

What was unusual was the Cougars’ defense. Capistrano Valley has utilized a matchup zone all season, but Thornton resorted to a man-to-man and added a fullcourt press midway through the third quarter with his team trailing, 48-40.

The Cougars responded with three straight turnovers for easy baskets off the press and managed to tie the game going into the pivotal final period. Lightly-regarded backup center Steve McCaughey was an unlikely hero for the Cougars.

McCaughey drew the assignment of defending Brian Hendrick, Diamond Bar’s 6-foot 8-inch center, early in third quarter after starting center Jim Waikle drew his fourth personal foul.

McCaughey responded by limiting Hendrick to just one field goal and three rebounds after he had scored 16 points and had 9 rebounds in the first half. Hendrick led all scorers with 25 points.

“I tried to body up with him and draw some offensive fouls, but he was tough,” McCaughey said. “He has a lot of good moves, so I just tried to make him work hard for his shots.”

Capistrano Valley’s 19th consecutive victory could also be characterized as a fluke. Thornton said he never considered switching defenses until his team was trailing in the third quarter.

“Maybe we were lucky that we got down by eight points,” Thornton said. “I might have stayed in the zone the entire game and lost at the buzzer.

“We haven’t played man-to-man all year. But Steve was doing such a good job on their big guy (Hendrick) that I figured why not give it a try? I thought the man pressure really bothered them and turned the game around.”

Diamond Bar (23-5) committed 17 turnovers as the Brahmas’ guards repeatedly rushed passes into Hendrick that were intercepted.

Capistrano Valley’s scoring was distributed among Lockard (23), Marinovich (21) and sophomore Scott McCorkle (20).