Corona del Mar Suffers 4th-Quarter Flop

They hustled for loose balls and scrapped for rebounds. They played defense as if there were no tomorrow. They came back from a 10-point halftime deficit to take the lead against the No. 1-seeded team in Southern Section Division III-A.

“Our whole team left everything on the floor,” said guard Kevin Hansen of Corona del Mar.

In the end, however, Corona del Mar couldn’t overcome a six-minute scoring drought in the fourth quarter and lost to West Hills Chaminade, 45-40, in the Division III-A boys’ basketball final Saturday morning at the Arrowhead Pond.

The Sea Kings (18-11) made only three of 16 shots in the fourth quarter and missed all 12 of their three-point attempts in the game.

Chaminade (24-4), the defending champion, led, 30-20, at halftime, then made only two of 10 shots in the third quarter and fell behind, 36-35, with 6 minutes 54 seconds left during an 11-0 surge by Corona del Mar.

Leading the way were Hansen, who finished with 18 points, and Dennis Alshuler, who made four of six free throws in the third quarter.

But Chaminade, using four seniors and 6-foot-9 sophomore Scott Borchart, an All-Southern Section pick last season as a freshman, took control. Senior point guard Cayce Cook scored on a three-point play with 4:32 remaining to give the Eagles a 40-36 lead. The Sea Kings never threatened again.

Cook and Borchart each scored 13 points for Chaminade, the Mission League champion. It was the fifth consecutive year a Mission team has won the Division III-A title and the sixth time in the past seven seasons.

Corona del Mar Coach Paul Orris said his players expended so much energy rallying in the third quarter that they had little left for the final eight minutes.

“I’m real proud of the guys,” Orris said. “I thought the energy they played with was tremendous. We got [back into the game], but it’s hard to climb the mountain and hard to sustain it.”

Said Hansen: “We kind of ran out of gas at the end.”

Corona del Mar made only 31% of its shots in the game. Alec Hanson missed all 10 of his shots. Alshuler was two of 10 and Hansen was six of 14.

The Sea Kings got back into the game with strong defense. They were trailing, 35-25, with 1:54 left in the third quarter when Hansen scored a basket, then came a series of bounces that went the Sea Kings’ way.

Alshuler made a free throw with 1:00 left, then missed the second, and Corona del Mar got the rebound. Alex Bottom scored with 49 seconds, was fouled, missed the free throw and the Sea Kings got the rebound again. This time Geoff Hunt scored with 33 seconds left, and Chaminade’s lead was only 35-32. Hansen made a steal and converted two free throws with 21.7 seconds remaining, cutting the lead to 35-34.

Bottom’s layup with 6:54 left in the game put Corona del Mar on top, 36-35. But the Sea Kings didn’t score again until Hansen’s basket with 54 seconds left. By then, the Eagles were ahead, 44-38, and Corona del Mar’s championship hopes had vanished.

Alshuler tried to blame himself for the defeat because of poor shooting, but Orris stepped in.

“I’ll go to war with him any day,” he said.