Boys’ Basketball: Mustangs can’t contain Smith
When you’re Brandon Smith and you’ve earned a scholarship to play basketball at UC Irvine, you have a big target on your back. It’s one thing for high school teams to focus on slowing down the high-flying act from Godinez and another to hurt him.
Costa Mesa found out that it shouldn’t mess with Smith.
One Mustang decided to go for Smith’s neck in the second quarter, fouling the 6-foot-5 senior hard on the baseline. Things got testy as Smith quickly confronted Simon Daniel for trying to hurt him. Players got between the two, before Smith walked toward his bench and Daniel took a seat on the Costa Mesa bench.
The intentional foul not only bothered Smith, it also fired him up. The Mustangs couldn’t stop Smith, who recorded 10 of his 26 points in the second quarter to put the game away en route to a 57-32 win at Costa Mesa.
Looking back, Smith said he should’ve just walked away from Daniel, saying the huge target on his back “comes with the game.” All that matters is that Smith has the Grizzles in a first-place tie in the Orange Coast league with Laguna Beach.
Godinez (16-4, 3-0 in league) kept pace with the defending league champion Breakers because of Smith’s all-around effort, 26 points on eight-for-13 shooting and 10 of 13 from the free-throw line, 10 rebounds, six assists and two steals. The forward put on a show, especially right after the incident with Daniel at the 5:16 mark in the second quarter. Smith responded with eight points, the biggest two came on a fastbreak dunk midway through the quarter. He stole the ball and raced toward the other end, taking off from inside the free-throw line to throw one down.
The dunk was one of three for Smith on the evening. The other two came in the second half. With 29 seconds left in the third quarter, Ramon Lopez, near the top of the three-point line, threw an alley-oop pass to Smith, who jammed it home from the left baseline.
The final slam came on a fastbreak with 3:28 to go. The Mustangs fouled him again, but Smith protected himself by hanging on the rim. The foul wasn’t as malicious as the one in the second quarter.
“That’s something that we don’t represent here,” Costa Mesa Coach Mike Molina said of Daniel’s intentional foul on Smith. “I apologized to [Godinez Coach Gregory] Coombs and Brandon. That’s something that we don’t do around here. I definitely don’t want the fans, the community or the administration to think that we’re teaching kids to do the wrong thing.
“Guy goes by him, a hard basketball foul is OK, but when it comes to the point where you’re going up for a neck or any malicious type of stuff, [that is unacceptable]. He’s a great player. You’re up for the challenge when you play someone like that, but you never want to hurt a kid. Sometimes players get a little too riled up when they face a big-time player like that.”
Molina sat Daniel after the foul, and the 6-4 junior joined two other players Molina benched on Wednesday. The Mustangs played without starting guards Calvin Ko and Chris Calderon, whom Molina said he sat because of disciplinary reasons.
Without their point guard and shooting guard, the Mustangs struggled taking care of the ball and making shots. By halftime, Costa Mesa piled up 15 turnovers and hit only five of 18 field goals.
The Mustangs are off to a 0-3 start in league, and they have yet to win a game in the New Year. Costa Mesa (7-12 overall), which finished second in league last season, is in a much different situation than it was in Molina’s first season in charge.
“We beat [the Grizzlies] last year … in a couple of thrilling games, but [the makeup of our team this season is] different,” Molina said. “We got [four] guys returning. Of the three, Mason [Tufuga] was the only one who really played. You got a young group here. They’re going to go through some lumps. It’s very unfortunate that we’re going through that in league.”
Tufuga led the Mustangs with 16 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. The Grizzlies, ranked No. 7 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1A poll, had three players in double figures, Smith, Danny Flores (13) and Abran Hernandez (10).
Next up for Godinez is a home date against Estancia on Friday at 7 p.m., before it travels to Laguna Beach next week. The second game should be a battle for first place.
“Laguna Beach is going to be a good game,” said Smith, knowing the one against Costa Mesa was far from a competitive contest.
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Orange Coast League
Godinez 57, Costa Mesa 32
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Godinez 13 – 18 – 14 – 12 — 57
Costa Mesa 6 – 8 – 9 – 9 — 32
G – Smith 26, Flores 13, Hernandez 10, Gonzalez 3, Escobedo 2, Gray 1, Moran 1, Avalos 1.
3-pt. goals – Flores 3, Hernandez 1, Gonzalez 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
CM – Tufuga 16, Pepic 6, Salameh 4, Workman 3, A. Petrecca 3 .
3-pt. goals – Pepic 2, A. Petrecca 1, Workman 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – Daniel.