No. 1 Monarchs Top No. 2 Cougars, 78-74

All season, the second half of each basketball game has belonged to top-ranked Mater Dei.

So when the Monarchs went into the locker room at halftime trailing No. 2 Capistrano Valley by 17 points Friday, no one had too much to say. There were no defensive adjustments and not much strategy, just some talk about grit and determination.

“We didn’t change a thing,” guard Steve Scoggin said. “The second half, all year, has been ours and what we did was all heart.”

The Monarchs rallied to send the game into overtime and then survived a wild finish in the second overtime to escape the Cougar gym with a 78-74 victory in front of a boisterous, standing room only crowd of more than 2,000.

This one was worthy of a highlight reel, and surely set the tone for what is expected to be another dogfight when these teams meet again at Mater Dei.

Cougar Coach Brian Mulligan said before the season his team had the potential to be one of the best the county has seen and for more than three quarters Friday he was right. Capistrano Valley held a 51-37 lead just before the third quarter ended, but Scoggin’s three-point basket that beat the buzzer propelled the Monarchs (16-2, 2-0) on a 15-0 run, giving them their first lead, 52-51, with 6 minutes 15 seconds left in regulation, once again, on a Scoggin basket.

From there it was anyone’s game and it came down to the final seconds of the second overtime.

Scoggin’s basket tied the score, 72-72, but J.J. Sola, who finished with 21 points, scored on a power move under the basket.

Mike Bayer, who finished with 16 points, tied it at 74 with two free throws with 41 seconds left. After Mike Stowell missed a layup attempt for the Cougars, light-scoring Imran Sufi got a shot to drop for Mater Dei with six seconds left.

After three timeouts, Capistrano Valley got the ball into Stowell, who missed what would have been the tying layup, and in the ensuing melee, Charles Cangelosi came up with the ball and hit what appeared to be the tying basket as the clock expired.

But as the spectators emptied onto the court, the referees waved off the basket, saying that Cangelosi had fouled Mater Dei’s Derrick Mansell before the shot.

An enraged Mulligan charged the officials and had to be restrained. Meanwhile, Mansell made both free throws to end the game.

Mulligan apologized for his actions, but said that he thought Stowell had been fouled first.

“I hate to see this game end on a controversial play,”’ Mulligan said. “It wasn’t our best second half, so I guess if we are going to hand the game back to them the way we did, they deserve it.”

Scoggin finished with 18 points. Stowell scored 20.

In other league games:

Trabuco Hills 60, Mission Viejo 57--Matt Cole had 18 points for Mission Viejo (0-2), but Brendon Casey scored 16 and brothers Brendon and Brennon Martin combined for 23 to lead Trabuco Hills.

San Clemente 71, Dana Hills 38--Mitch Pierce had 19 points and Joe Tatala had 16 for San Clemente (12-4, 1-1).