PREP BASKETBALL : South Coast League Roundup : El Toro Can’t Keep Capistrano Valley Down

It all looked so good for such a long time for El Toro High School Friday night.

El Toro led Capistrano Valley for much of the South Coast League boys’ basketball game at Saddleback College, and appeared it might upset the fifth-ranked Cougars.

The Chargers had bottled up Scott McCorkle, Capistrano Valley’s high-scoring forward, and had outhustled the taller Cougars.

But it all fell apart in a 1-minute 54-second span in the third quarter, and Capistrano Valley rallied for a 69-59 victory.

A basket by McCorkle with 1:54 left in the third quarter gave Capistrano Valley the lead for good at 49-47 and started a 8-0 run that closed out the quarter. Capistrano Valley (13-4 overall, 3-0 in league play) led, 55-47, at the end of the quarter.

McCorkle, who averages 26 points a game, scored 20, 6 of which came near the end of the third quarter.

Guard Chris Kostoff had a game-high 26 points, including 12 in the third quarter, to lead the Cougars.

Capistrano Valley outscored El Toro, 23-10, in the quarter and ended any hopes of a Charger upset.

The closest El Toro (10-8, 0-3) could come in the fourth quarter was 7, at 66-59 with 52 seconds left.

“We just had a tough time scoring in the second half,” El Toro Coach Tim Travers said. “Our kids played hard. I’m proud of how they played. I thought we did a real good job in the first half. But they had that run in the third quarter, and that was the game right there.”

It didn’t help that Charger forward Khari Johnson, who had 14 points, picked up his fourth foul trying to block a McCorkle layup with 26 seconds left in the third quarter. He went to the bench and didn’t return until less than 5 minutes remained in the game.

Guard Rob Johnson led El Toro with 18 points, including 4 3-pointers, and was a big reason the Chargers led, 37-32, at halftime.

But then McCorkle and Kostoff got hot and Capistrano Valley rallied.

“We’re usually good for one run per game and that’s been saving us lately,” Capistrano Valley Coach Mark Thornton said. “Steve (McCaughey, who had 11 points) and Kostoff had their best games by far this season. We need to have big games from our other people too.”

Dana Hills 57, San Clemente 39--Dana Hills (13-7, 1-2) stopped a 4-game losing streak as forward Mike Feden scored 15 points and had 7 rebounds and center John Lloyd added 14 points and 5 rebounds. Guard Mike Bell led San Clemente (4-11, 1-2) with 11 points.

Irvine 68, Mission Viejo 67--Steve Dunmeyer made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 2 seconds remaining for Irvine, the county’s third-ranked team.

Visiting Mission Viejo led until those last free throws. Raphael Molle scored 10 of his 17 points in the fourth quarter as Irvine rallied.

Sophomore John Molle had 23 points to lead Irvine (17-2, 3-0). Eric Cramer led Mission Viejo (6-10, 1-2) with 24 points.