BOYS’ BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Young Trabuco Hills Learns Lesson

The Trabuco Hills basketball team has only one senior in the starting lineup, and its inexperience showed last week when the fifth-ranked Mustangs played sloppy and uninspired in an unexpected loss to Santiago.

But Coach Rainer Wulf’s youth movement atoned for its sins with an 81-71 nonleague victory over fourth-ranked Capistrano Valley Tuesday night.

“This was a major win for us,” Wulf said. “We can play with anyone when they play the way it’s taught. We have a young team. They’re still learning. Last week, they thought they could just show up.”

The teams were neck and neck until Trabuco Hills (12-4) started to pull away in the fourth quarter.

After Capistrano Valley’s Keith Carson hit from three-point range to tie it, 68-68, with three minutes left, sophomore Nick Punto scored on a fast break and teammate Ryan Karnoff made a three-pointer to give the Mustangs a 73-69 lead.

Capistrano Valley (11-4) started to foul Trabuco Hills, and the Mustangs made six of eight free throws in the final two minutes.

One of the Mustangs’ strategies was to stop Dinari Bates from scoring inside. They were successful; Bates was held to 10 points, and only contributed two free throws in the second half.

“We self-destructed,” said Cougar Coach Mark Thornton. “They outplayed us in every facet of the game. We gave them too many uncontested open shots, and they hit their free throws down the stretch.”

Karnoff scored a game-high 27 points and teammate Rob Warnick added 25. For the Cougars, Brandon Puffer scored 20 points and four teammates were in double figures.