SOUTHERN SECTION BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : Corona del Mar Wins With a Flurry

The points kept coming at such a furious pace that Corona del Mar High School forward Warren Johnson didn’t even have time to check the scoreboard.

Clinging to a 35-34 third-quarter lead against St. Paul in a second-round 3-A playoff game Friday, Corona del Mar began scoring in bunches.

The streak of consecutive points reached 19, and Corona del Mar (17-9), the 3-A runner-up last year, went on to a 77-60 victory in its home gym.

“It didn’t seem like 19 points,” said Johnson, who scored eight points during the decisive third quarter. “We were all just playing, and I looked up at the scoreboard and all of a sudden we were up by 20 points. It was kind of fun.”

Easy for Johnson to say. But for St. Paul (7-16), which had to endure the 5 1/2-minute stretch, it spelled the end of a season.

“We just got stuck on 34,” St. Paul Coach Mike Dinneen said. “We came out after halftime well, then we missed a layup at 39-34 and we just couldn’t stop the tide. They kept getting layup after layup.”

The second half started innocently enough. After trailing, 33-25, at halftime, St. Paul cut its deficit to 35-34 on a three-pointer by Brandon Ertle with six minutes left in the quarter. St. Paul, after overcoming poor shooting from the field (7 of 24) and foul trouble for leading scorer Edgar Diaz in the opening half, seemed to have the momentum.

But thanks to Corona del Mar’s press and subsequent turnovers, the Swordsmen would score only two points the rest of the quarter.

Johnson, a 6-foot-2 senior, started Corona del Mar’s run with two consecutive baskets. Jeff Jackson then took his turn, scoring the next two field goals. Later, Johnson added four more points on consecutive layups. After another field goal gave the Sea Kings a 54-34 lead, Mark Walsh made two free throws to end St. Paul’s scoreless streak.

Corona del Mar Coach Paul Orris seemed at a loss for words to describe the third quarter.

“You get it going and it just happens,” he said. “We threw a little pressure at them and they got a little nervous. You start forcing a couple of turnovers and it just explodes. Our defense just kept getting better and better.”

John Paulsen scored a game-high 18 points and Jon Upham added 10 for the Sea Kings, who had a first-round bye.

Mark Walsh paced St. Paul with 10 points. Diaz, averaging 14.5 points a game, spent much of the first half on the bench because of foul trouble and finished with seven points.