Mater Dei Proves to Be Too Deep, Capistrano Valley Gets Buried by 17

In what might have been a preview of the Southern Section’s 5-A division basketball championship, Mater Dei High School’s depth proved too much for Capistrano Valley Saturday night and the Monarchs rolled, 64-47, in front of 2,600 in UC Irvine’s Bren Center.

Capistrano Valley, the defending 5-A champion, stayed close to Mater Dei in the first half but wilted under the Monarchs’ depth and pressure in the second. Reserve Danny O’Neil led a second-half surge for Mater Dei, scoring 12 points and missing only one shot.

Mater Dei (15-1) opened a 48-38 lead when O’Neil scored at the buzzer ending the third quarter, and it might as well have been the end of the game. The Monarchs closed with a flourish, outscoring Capistrano Valley, 16-9, in the last quarter.

Capistrano Valley (10-6) opened a 6-0 lead when guard Chris Kostoff and forward Scott McCorkle made three-point shots, and the Cougars led at the end of the first quarter, 17-15. The score was tied on nine different occasions in the first half, but it was obvious Capistrano Valley would only go as far as Kostoff and McCorkle could carry the team.

Kostoff and McCorkle scored 41 of the Cougars’ 47 points, but they tired down the stretch. McCorkle had 23 points, but he was repeatedly double teamed in the second half after scoring 16 points in the first.

“They went after Scotty with two players, and the other guys who were open didn’t do anything,” said Mark Thornton, Capistrano Valley’s coach. “The other guys are looking for Scott and Chris too much.”

In a nutshell, the game matched nine players from Mater Dei against Capistrano Valley’s two-man team. And in the end, it was no match, although Mater Dei Coach Gary McKnight had nothing but praise for Kostoff and McCorkle.

“Those are two all-CIF players who are as good as anybody in Orange County,” McKnight said. “McCorkle is the best basketball athlete since Matt Beeuwsaert played for me. But they both got a little tired in the second half.

“We went after them with eight or nine people and made a good adjustment of stepping out farther on the screens to get through and guard them. We could be playing them again before the year is over.”

Mater Dei’s seventh consecutive victory was a testimony to defense, but the Monarchs also shot 51% from the field (25 of 49). David Boyle continued his hot shooting, making three of five three-pointers and finishing with 15 points.

Capistrano Valley was only 16 of 46 from the field and made only 4 of 13 three-pointers.

After, Thornton credited Mater Dei’s defense as the difference and cast his vote for Mater Dei as the No. 1 team in the 5-A division.

“No doubt, they’re the team to beat in the 5-A,” he said.