SIMI VALLEY TOURNAMENT : McCorkle Gets Even in Win Over Simi Valley

It has been nearly two years since Simi Valley and Capistrano Valley highs squared off in basketball.

Since then, so much has happened for both programs that Capistrano Valley’s 67-58 victory Wednesday in the final of the Simi Valley tournament seemed almost incidental.

A couple of Pioneer players have gone on to play Division I ball, and Capistrano Valley had one of its best--a kid named Marinovich--give up the round ball for an oval one.

Simi Valley beat the Cougars in overtime in 1988 for the Southern Section 4-A Division title. And, although Capistrano Valley came back to win a championship of its own last season, one of the only constants--Cougar forward Scott McCorkle--has not forgotten.

“It was exciting to play Simi Valley again,” McCorkle said. “Now I’m 1-1 against them.”

McCorkle was a sophomore on that 1988 finalist, and since then he has transformed from a eye-catching phenom to a stronger, better balanced player. So much so that he signed early to attend Syracuse next fall--a team that just happens to be ranked No. 1 in the nation right now.

“I’ve gotten much stronger and improved my dribbling since then,” he said. “And, people may not say it, but the team has improved.”

Despite a stalwart defensive effort by Simi Valley forward Kenny Hood, McCorkle scored 32 points on his way to the most valuable player award.

Capistrano Valley point guard Chris Kostoff added 17 points--all in the second half and 12 in the fourth quarter.

The Pioneers never led after holding a 10-8 advantage in the first quarter, although they kept the score close most of the way--the Cougars’ lead was never more than 12. Steve Carnes led Simi Valley scorers with 18 points.

Simi Valley, ranked No. 9 in Division 5-AA, made just 21 of 57 field-goal attempts and never shot 50% in any quarter.

While Capistrano Valley was hardly on target (24 for 59), the Cougars made seven of 10 field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter when they outscored Simi Valley, 24-21.

In other tournament games:

Kennedy 49, Taft 45--Garret Anderson scored 18 points and Josh Etting added nine for the Golden Cougars in the consolation championship.

Trailing by three points at halftime, Kennedy outscored Taft, 28-21, in the second half, including a 9-6 margin in the fourth quarter.

James Yoakum and Casey Sheahan each scored 10 points for the Toreadors.

Royal 49, Alemany 48--Chris Moriarty sank the second of two free throws with no time remaining for the Highlanders in the game for fifth place. Royal was awarded the free throws when Alemany was hit with a technical for calling a timeout when it had none.

Moriarty scored a team-high 14 points. Alemany’s Rich Dice had 21 points.