South Coast Christmas Basketball Tournament : Corona Del Mar Takes Dana Hills to Four Overtimes Before Losing

It took four overtimes, one coach pacing pool side, and a 3-point shot by Aaron Earnest to give Dana Hills High School a 68-67 victory over Corona del Mar Tuesday in the first round of the South Coast Christmas tournament at Estancia High.

Earnest, who scored 10 points, made his 3-pointer with 15 seconds left in the fourth overtime. Corona del Mar (5-4) set up for a final shot, and got a pretty good one, but Jeff Jackson’s 15-footer was just long.

It was a game that Dana Hills (10-3) seemed destined to lose. The Dolphins had a 10-5 lead by the end of the first quarter, but strong man defense by Corona del Mar pushed the Sea Kings to an 18-14 halftime lead. That stretched to 32-24 by the end of the third quarter.

Dana Hills trailed by as many as 10 in the fourth quarter. With 46 second remaining, Dana Hills still trailed by 6 points. But as Dana Hills’ Chris Delfs made a 3-pointer, teammate John Lloyd was fouled under the basket.

Lloyd made the first free throw to draw Dana Hills to within 2 at 48-46. Lloyd’s second free throw was short, but teammate Kevin O’Neill tipped the ball in to tie the score at 48-48. That’s how the game ended in regulation.

Dana Hills seemed to have the game won in the first overtime when Delfs made 2 free throws to put his team up 54-52. But Corona del Mar’s Chris Pliha, off a a pass from Warren Johnson, made a layup as time ran out to tie the score and force a second overtime.

The second overtime soon became a third overtime. It was in that overtime that the Dana Hills bench received its third technical foul of the game which forced Coach Rick Skelton out of the gymnasium. He spent the rest of the game pacing the Estancia pool deck.

What he didn’t see was his team go up, 63-61, with 40 seconds left in the third overtime, only to have Corona del Mar’s Jeff Jackson make a 15-footer to force a fourth.

With 30 seconds left in that overtime, Corona del Mar’s Johnson made a free throw to put his team ahead 67-65.

In other first-round games:

Santa Clara 66, Cypress 58--Shon Tarver scored a team-high 30 points to lead Santa Clara. Bubba Burrage added 16 and John McGill 10 for Santa Clara, which led, 22-8, at the end of the first quarter and, 35-27, at the half.

Edison 46, Mission Viejo 42--Edison won despite making just 18 of 33 free throws. Mission Viejo was 14 of 19. Art Baird and Steve Thobe scored 12 each for Edison and Bill Martineau 10 for Edison. Matt Tanner, Greg Amaya and Eric Cramer scored 10 each for Mission Viejo.

Long Beach Jordan 86, Costa Mesa 42--Kasey Brown scored 15 points, David Mitchell 13 and Joel Roseborough 12 for Jordan. Brown (10) and Mitchell (9) combined for 19 points in the first quarter as Jordan opened a 29-7 lead. Jordan led, 46-18, at the half. Tim Nguyen scored 28 for Costa Mesa, including 4 3-pointers.