Irvine Valley Gives Mulligan 500th Victory

In the same gym where his college coaching career started, Bill Mulligan gained his 500th victory Tuesday.

Mulligan’s Irvine Valley team beat San Bernardino Valley, 110-104, in the first round of the Riverside Holiday tournament at Riverside City College.

Mulligan began his community college career in 1966 at Riverside and coached the Tigers nine seasons, compiling a 196-87 record. He next went to Saddleback where he had a mark of 136-31 from 1975-1980. His best season was 1979-80 when the Gauchos went 34-1.

He then moved to UC Irvine, where his teams were 163-156 from 1980-1991. Mulligan retired from Irvine with a record of 495-274. He came out of retirement to start the Irvine Valley program this season and the Lazers are off to a 5-3 start.

“I guess I’m glad I came back,” Mulligan said after the victory. “All that (500 victories) proves is that I’m old.”

Irvine trailed at halftime, 54-49, but pulled away behind an outstanding second-half performance by freshman guard Chris Kostoff. Kostoff finished with 32 points, 18 in the second half.

Dan Bathey also scored 32 points, and Gabe Higa added 25 for Irvine.

Irvine took the lead for good with 8 minutes 45 seconds left on a short jumper by Higa that made the score 85-83. Irvine increased its lead to 107-99 on a Higa three-pointer with 2:04 left. The Lasers then failed to score over the next 1:20 and San Bernardino Valley pulled to within three, 107-104, with 44 seconds left.

Kostoff made one of two free throws and Higa made two in the next 20 seconds to seal the victory.

Irvine Valley plays Fullerton at 1 p.m. Thursday in the quarterfinals.

In another Riverside tournament game:

Fullerton 88, Southwestern 77--Fullerton trailed, 11-0, in the first three minutes and was down, 47-41, at the half before rallying.

Fullerton’s Kevin Carlson made a three-pointer with 17:10 left to tie it, 51-51. The Hornets then went ahead for good, 54-51, on a three-pointer by Edward Cochran with 16:45 left.

Greg Williams scored a team-high 20 points, including 10 of 11 free throws for Fullerton (6-5).

Cochran had 16 points and Carlson and Bobby Natoya had 14 each for Fullerton.

In nonconference women’s basketball:

Antelope Valley 64, Cypress 51--Bernice Atkinson scored 23 points for Antelope Valley (5-5). Yolanda Hearvey led Cypress (7-3) with 16 points and 11 rebounds.