SOUTH COAST BASKETBALL LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Mission Viejo Cuts Off El Toro With a Pass in Overtime Victory

Eric Cramer of Mission Viejo High School picked just the right time to get open Friday.

Hounded by man-to-man defense throughout the game, Cramer worked free in overtime against El Toro just long enough to feed Mike Boucher for a game-winning basket in the Diablos’ 68-66 victory in a South Coast League game at Mission Viejo.

Mission Viejo Coach Bob Minier, who pumped his fists in the air so hard after the victory that his glasses fell off, called the battle between two of the county’s ranked teams a “great high school basketball game.”

The fifth-ranked Diablos (16-6, 6-2 in the league) stayed a game behind league-leading Capistrano Valley (7-1). Third-ranked El Toro (17-5, 5-3) lost any chance of winning the league title.

Following an inbounds pass, Cramer got free and took a pass inside midcourt. He found himself with a two-on-one advantage as Boucher filled the left side of the lane. Cramer dribbled upcourt and passed to Boucher, who made the layup.

Cramer, who finished with 17 points, said he was surprised to be so open. “They were guarding me all night,” he said.

“Cramer made a great play,” Minier said. “If he would have waited one dribble longer, the pass wouldn’t have been there.”

El Toro had a last-second chance, but Rob Johnson, who scored a game-high 30 points, missed a three-pointer.

The game was El Toro’s to win. The Chargers, thanks to hot shooting from three-point range, took an 11-point lead in the second quarter. El Toro made 11 of 17 three-pointers and led, 39-33, at halftime. Mission Viejo, however, switched from a man-to-man defense to a 3-2 zone, a strategy which limited El Toro’s three-point attempts.

“Basically we wanted to take away their three-point shooting and we didn’t do a very good job in the first half,” Minier said. “We opened up the middle but they only went inside three or four times. They’re so three-point oriented they couldn’t adjust.”

El Toro Coach Tim Travers blamed the loss on his team’s 19 turnovers.

“This was the most unintelligent basketball game we’ve played all year,” said Travers, whose team beat Mission Viejo, 66-41, on Jan. 13. “It’s hard to shoot the ball when you never get it past half court.”

El Toro’s mistakes were especially costly late. The Chargers led, 64-60, with about three minutes to play. But El Toro, because of two missed free throws and three turnovers, didn’t score the remainder of regulation.

In other league games:

Capistrano Valley 47, Irvine 30--Scott McCorkle scored 17 points, making 5 of 11 shots and all four of his free throws, to keep Capistrano Valley (16-7, 7-1) in first place. Capistrano Valley shot 26 more free throws than Irvine (11-13, 3-5) and limited Irvine forward John Molle to four points, 19 below his scoring average.

Dana Hills 59, San Clemente 42--Dana Hills scored 10 consecutive points in the fourth quarter. Dana Hills (15-8, 3-5) held a 39-35 lead with 5:43 remaining when J.B. Taylor started the streak with a three-point shot. Jason Spizuoco scored five of Dana Hills’ 10 points as San Clemente was outscored, 20-7, down the stretch.