SOUTH COAST LEAGUE BASKETBALL : No. 7 Capistrano Valley Rolls Past No. 4 El Toro

Chris Kostoff looked at the scoreboard and smiled.

It read: Capistrano Valley 74, El Toro 51.

“I thought it would be a lot closer than that,” said Kostoff, a 6-foot-2 guard. “(Assistant Coach Brian) Mulligan always pushes defense on us. It makes us look pretty good when we can hold El Toro to only 51.”

Kostoff and Scott McCorkle did their share offensively, scoring 26 points each as the Cougars, the seventh-ranked team in Orange County, cruised past the fourth-ranked Chargers Saturday night at Saddleback College.

The Cougars improved to 13-7 overall and moved into a first-place tie with Mission Viejo in the South Coast League. Both teams are 4-1.

“We have to play better in the second half of the (league) season,” Capistrano Valley Coach Mark Thornton said. “Everyone will be pointing toward us now.”

The Cougars were gunning for El Toro (15-4, 3-2) early in the second quarter. El Toro had its last lead of the game, 21-20, after a layup by Greg Everett with 6:14 left.

Capistrano Valley, sparked by McCorkle’s five points and Kostoff’s seven, went on a 19-7 run to grab a 39-28 halftime lead.

El Toro Coach Tim Travers said the Chargers’ sloppy play on offense let Capistrano Valley take control of the tempo.

“We didn’t execute on offense and they scored on a lot of transition baskets in the second quarter,” Johnson said. “We were not in our offense. It was as simple as that. They outplayed us with their defense and our spark went out. They deserved to win. They kicked our butts.”

McCorkle and Kostoff continued to score from the outside and slice through El Toro’s defense for layups in the second half. Kostoff had 14 points in the second half and McCorkle 12 in the second half as the Cougars led by as many as 25.

“Chris and Scott had great games,” Thornton said. “But I look down our bench and I can’t say anyone had a bad game.”

Not all of Capistrano Valley’s strong play showed up in the scorebook. Guard Brett McCorkle, Scott’s brother, finished with only two points, but Thornton was still showering him with praise. McCorkle held Rob Johnson, El Toro’s leading scorer, to four-of-16 shooting and 11 points. Kevin Martin led El Toro with 15 points.

“We did a good job on their scorers,” Thornton said. “And Eric Gruenewald (11 points, 11 rebounds) did great inside.”

Capistrano Valley, which had a 24-game winning streak ended by Mission Viejo two weeks ago, extended its current winning streak to three games.