Technically Speaking, Foul Plays Irk Coach : Basketball: Morningside’s Carl Franklin said his team lost its composure in loss to Mira Costa.

Carl Franklin could understand one technical foul. Two, maybe. Three would be pushing it. But four?

That was cause for Franklin, Morningside High boys’ basketball coach, to have a talk with his team Tuesday night after an 81-75 Ocean League defeat against host Mira Costa.

“I lost my temper in the locker room, but not on the court,” Franklin said.

The same could not be said for Morningside’s players. The Monarchs, ranked No. 1 in the Southern Section Division III poll, were assessed four technical fouls and one intentional foul. Franklin said three of the technicals were the result of Morningside players retaliating to Mira Costa’s aggressive tactics.

“I don’t like saying it, but we lost our composure,” he said. “(Mira Costa) came in with a game plan to be aggressive, to get in our face and be annoying. I don’t think it was much more than that.

“We didn’t respond very well. We have to look at that and make the adjustment. Other teams are going to try things like that and we have to be poised enough to handle it.”

Morningside (21-5), which had already clinched the Ocean title before Tuesday’s game, finished 7-1 in league. The Monarchs complete the regular season Friday night at home with a nonleague game against Hawthorne.

Franklin said he is concerned that the loss to Mira Costa might jeopardize Morningside’s chance of being seeded No. 1 in the Division III-AA playoffs.

“I don’t know if this will affect the seeding or not,” he said. “One good thing is (Mira Costa is) not in our division. Everybody we’ve lost to is in a higher division.”

Mira Costa (18-6, 4-3) clinched a playoff berth by snapping a four-game losing streak against Morningside. The Mustangs, who play at third-place Redondo (12-12, 3-4) on Friday night, can finish no worse than in a tie for second in the Ocean League.

Tuesday’s victory was perhaps most satisfying to Mira Costa Coach Glenn Marx, whose team lost second-half leads in two losses to Morningside this season, including the final of the Pacific Shores tournament.

“It was due,” Marx said. “It wasn’t like it was a fluke. We’ve always played them tough.”

Senior point guard Josh Branca scored 27 points and center Frank Zeno had 25 to lead the Mustangs. Branca shot the free throws after Morningside’s four technicals and one intentional foul, making nine of 10 attempts.

“The game wasn’t decided by technical fouls,” Marx said. “But it didn’t help (Morningside). They shouldn’t have done those things.”

Franklin said three of Morningside’s technicals were called on players who shoved Mira Costa players. The fourth was called on center Cory Saffold for hanging on the rim after he missed a dunk. Franklin questioned a double foul called against Monarch swingman Stais Boseman, who was cited for a personal foul and technical foul on the same play. The Monarchs led at the time, 7-2.

“I wasn’t pleased with that,” Franklin said. “Instead of assessing two fouls, I thought the officials should have assessed one or the other, but not both. I thought that was distasteful.

“That was a big momentum switch. It allowed (Mira Costa) to get back in the game.”

Mira Costa led by as many as 16 points, but Morningside rallied to lead, 58-54, after the third quarter. Mira Costa outscored the Monarchs, 27-17, in the fourth quarter.

It was the fourth consecutive victory for Mira Costa, which has rebounded from a 1-3 start in league play.

“We could have gone one of two ways at that point,” Marx said of the Mustangs’ midseason slump. “This is a very, very tight team. I think that made (Tuesday) night’s victory possible.”