De Casas Keeps His Focus in Win

It would have been easy to forgive Chad de Casas, Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley junior forward, for losing focus Friday night. Instead, he will probably be remembered for the way he shot down Lake Forest El Toro, 80-74, in triple overtime, giving the Cougars a two-game lead at the halfway point of the South Coast League race.

De Casas scored 36 points, including five of the team’s seven in the third overtime, to lead the Cougars, ranked No. 16 in the Southland by The Times. He made a three-point shot that tied the score at the end of the second overtime. The effort was especially noteworthy considering that De Casas played the entire second half and overtime missing one contact lens.

“It was a little blurry, but we still pulled it through,” De Casas said.

De Casas didn’t seem so comfortable in the closing seconds of regulation. He missed three of four free throws in the final 30 seconds, allowing the No. 17 Chargers to rally from an eight-point deficit and tie the score on Jonathan Johnson’s three-pointer, which left his hand just before the buzzer, rolled around the rim, hit the backboard and dropped in.

After the Cougars (19-2, 5-0) failed to convert a basket in the first overtime, they fell behind by five points with 34.3 seconds left in the second. De Casas then made a three-point basket with 24 seconds remaining -- his first points of overtime -- and the Cougars got the ball back with 20.3 seconds remaining after El Toro guard Darryl Best missed one of two free throws.

El Toro (16-5, 3-2) appeared to secure an offensive rebound after a missed three-point shot, but the Chargers were ruled out of bounds and the Cougars got the ball back with 4.7 seconds remaining to set up the game-tying three-pointer by De Casas.

“I don’t know if we deserved to get into overtime, but then I think we deserved to win it in double overtime,” El Toro Coach Todd Dixon said.

Best scored 23 points and Kelvin Kim had 22 points for El Toro.

-- Dan Arritt

La Canada will put its unbeaten season on the line today when it plays Ontario Colony at 6:25 p.m. in the Reebok Southern California Shootout at Azusa Pacific University.

The No. 22 Spartans (20-0) handed Coach Tom Hofman his 400th victory on Wednesday with a 70-45 Rio Hondo League victory over Pasadena Blair. Colony is 19-3.

The rest of the schedule: Flintridge Prep vs. La Canada St. Francis, 8:30 a.m.; La Verne Damien vs. La Puente Bishop Amat, 9:55 a.m.; Rowland Heights Rowland vs. Brea Olinda, 11:20 a.m.; Corona Centennial vs. Pasadena Muir, 12:45 p.m.; Diamond Bar vs. Los Alamitos, 2:10 p.m.; Pomona Diamond Ranch vs. No. 21 Pasadena, 3:35 p.m.; Mission Viejo vs. No. 14 Artesia, 5 p.m.; Covina Charter Oak vs. Glendora, 7:50 p.m.; Crenshaw vs. No. 2 Etiwanda, 9:15 p.m.

-- Dan Loumena

Football

UCLA was a late-comer in the courtship of lineman Chase Moline, but the Bruins got a commitment Thursday from the only two-way starter on Mission Viejo’s undefeated football team.

Moline, a 6-foot-1, 245-pound defensive tackle and offensive guard who was The Times’ lineman of the year, decided between Boise State, which had shown more interest in him, and UCLA, which entered the recruiting battle after his performance in the CaliFlorida Bowl on Jan. 2.

UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell and assistant Larry Kerr visited Moline on Thursday.

“They were telling me how they wanted to change the program around,” Moline said. “Coach Dorrell was telling me what they needed, that they need football players, guys who want to compete hard and win games.”

Teammate Kevin Bemoll (6-6, 300), a left tackle who lined up alongside Moline, backed out of his commitment to Ohio State and instead chose California.

-- Martin Henderson