Advertisement

5-A : Capistrano Valley Goes Into High Gear to Beat Irvine

Share
Times Staff Writer

It was close for a while, but Capistrano Valley High School ran away from Irvine for a 76-49 victory in the Southern Section 5-A championship game Saturday in the Sports Arena.

Capistrano Valley outscored Irvine, 14-1, in the first 4 minutes 30 seconds of the second quarter, pushing a 14-13 lead to 28-14, and was never really challenged.

It was the third time Capistrano Valley had beaten its South Coast League rival. The Cougars won the others by one and 23 points.

Advertisement

Capistrano Valley (24-4) advances to the State Division I playoffs, which begin Tuesday. Irvine (24-6) could get an at-large berth in the state tournament.

This was Irvine’s first winning season in its 11 years of varsity basketball.

Forward Scott McCorkle led Capistrano Valley with a game-high 24 points on 10 of 16 shooting. But he was on the bench with two fouls when the Cougars made their second-quarter run. McCorkle played just 19 minutes.

“McCorkle goes out of the game and they still take off on us,” said Irvine Coach Steve Keith, who coached Glendale to the 4-A championship in 1985 and the 2-A title in 1981. “It’s an indication of how good they are.”

Guards Bill Mazurie and Chris Kostoff added 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Cougars, who led by 10 at halftime and by 22 (59-37) at the end of the third quarter.

Capistrano Valley was able to break the game open primarily because of good defense.

However, it certainly didn’t hurt that the Cougars were also able to pick up the pace in the second quarter and bring a patient Irvine team out out of its offense and into a running game.

“I knew our coach (Mark Thornton) wanted us to push the ball up,” Kostoff said. “I think they got tired out there. We just kept running, and then Scott came back in the third quarter and that helped us.”

Advertisement

And just to be sure Irvine didn’t get any closer late in the game, McCorkle sank a jumper and a three-pointer to give Capistrano Valley a 64-40 lead a minute into the fourth quarter.

“We just played really well tonight in all facets of the game,” Thornton said.

Advertisement