Title Game No Day at Beach for Cougars

Just going by crowd reaction, it would have been hard to guess what really happened during the third quarter of the Upland-Capistrano Valley Southern Section Division I-AAA boys’ basketball final Saturday at the Arrowhead Pond.

Those sitting in the Capistrano Valley end were laughing, cheering and just generally having a good time whacking around beach balls.

Of course, what they were not paying very close attention to was the fact that Upland was knocking around the Cougars in much the same manner on the court.

Top-seeded Upland, which has won 27 in a row, kept up the assault in the fourth quarter as well and went on to win, 72-51.

“That’s the best team we’ve played in a couple of years,” Capistrano Valley Coach Brian Mulligan said. “Even had we executed our game plan to perfection, we might have still lost.”

Upland (31-1) had started the game strong, but Capistrano Valley was able to make some adjustments and got more active on defense. The result was a mere 32-25 Upland lead at halftime.

But then came the worst quarter of the playoffs for the South Coast League champion Cougars.

Upland started the quarter with a 14-0 run that didn’t stop until Capistrano Valley’s Jeff Gloger got loose in the key and made a five-footer with 2 minutes 40 seconds left.

The Capistrano Valley faithful cheered about that time, but only because a beach ball was recovered from an usher who got his hands on it for a short time.

Upland guard Jesse Pruitt was at the head of the offensive attack, making three of four three-point attempts and finishing with 11 of his 13 points in the quarter.

“I didn’t think we played particularly well in the first half,” Mulligan said, “then we had all those turnovers and they converted on almost every one.”

But the Highlanders had plenty of fireworks in store for what was left of the crowd late in the fourth quarter. First, Kirk Snyder threw a deft pass above the rim that was dunked by teammate Jason Harris.

Then it was Snyder’s turn as he broke loose for a thunderous dunk of his own to give Upland a 71-42 lead with 2:50 left.

Snyder finished with game highs in points (22) and rebounds (nine). Sheldon Pace and Harris each had 11 for Upland.

The Highlanders, who were making their first title-game appearance, started the game with three layups and pushed the lead to as many as 12 before the Cougars put together a modest rally. Gloger scored the final four points of the second quarter to draw Capistrano Valley within seven.

Jake Franzen had 12, Gloger 11 and Pete DeCasas 10 for Capistrano Valley (27-4), which entered the playoffs unseeded.