Boys’ Basketball: Corona del Mar comes up short in CIF title game

AZUSA — Players filed out of the locker room, many with their heads down, some wiped away tears.

Inside the locker room remained Corona del Mar High boys’ basketball Coach Ryan Schachter and a couple of his assistants, and then his wife and two kids walked in.

The youngest of Schachter’s children, 4-year-old Kent, called for his father.

“Dad!” Kent said.

“What?” Schachter said.

“Our team didn’t win,” Kent said.

The little guy’s voice cheered up a glum locker room. Coaching the Sea Kings keeps Schachter away from his family a lot. This season has gone almost as long as his first one at the school eight years ago.

Kent has been so used to seeing his dad’s team win since Jan. 9, when CdM won the first of 15 straight games. The No. 2-seeded Sea Kings’ winning streak ended in the CIF Southern Section Division 3A final on Friday, losing to No. 1 Beverly Hills, 55-47, at Azusa Pacific University.

The game started late, at 9 p.m., and when it wrapped up, Schachter hung around with his loved ones in the locker room. His players left for the bus just before 11, and Schachter knows this isn’t how his team will go out this season.

“We got another game,” said Schachter, whose team qualified for the CIF State Southern California Regional Division III playoffs. “I told the guys, ‘I’m not giving you the end-of-the-season speech yet. We got another game to prepare for.’

“Hopefully our seniors can help us regroup and get ready for whomever we got [next]. I’m sure it’s going to be someone good, so I’m excited to play.”

Schachter and the Sea Kings (24-7) learn of their opponent in the state tournament on Sunday. He expects CdM to travel in the opening round Wednesday. Allowing Beverly Hills (25-5) to claim its first section crown in 46 years will most likely be the cause for CdM having to hit the road.

The chances were there for CdM — making its 10th CIF finals appearance — to triumph in a section final for the first time since 2006-07, when Schachter led the school all the way in his debut season. The Sea Kings, who went into the fourth quarter down, 41-30, got within five points with 1:04 to go. Kevin Fults converted two free throws, and then a turnover by Beverly Hills at the 57.8-second mark gave CdM a chance to cut into the deficit and make it a one-possession game.

Five seconds rolled off the clock before CdM asked a timeout.

“Once we called a timeout and we drew that play up, I thought we were going to win the game,” Schachter said. “I just thought that [shot we drew up] was going in.”

The play was for CdM’s best shooter, Matt Ctvrtlik, to take a three-pointer. The junior struggled in the final, going one for 11 with five points, but he was the team’s hottest player, coming off the bench to average 14.5 points per game in the first four rounds of the postseason. The three didn’t go in, but Beverly Hills was unable to grab the rebound, knocking it out of bounds.

With another chance to inch closer, CdM went to Ryan Stone, another player who has come up big in the playoffs. He delivered two three-point plays in the Sea Kings’ 65-58 win at No. 15 Ocean View in the second round. Back then, Stone couldn’t miss in the fourth quarter.

It appeared Stone might make his first shot in the fourth against Beverly Hills. The small forward attempted a three from the left wing, barely misfiring with 38 seconds left. The Sea Kings fouled right away, sending Denzel Holt to the free-throw line for a one-and-one situation, which he converted.

In the final 21.5 seconds, Holt wound up going to the charity stripe twice more, draining all four attempts. Beverly Hills hit all of its 10 free throws in the fourth quarter, and Holt was responsible for eight of them. The junior’s free throws accounted for the team’s final eight points.

All evening, the Normans missed only one free throw. If it wasn’t for Navid Refalian coming up short on his free throw during a possible three-point play with 5:41 left in the second quarter, Beverly Hills goes 17 of 17 from the free-throw line. Refalian made up for his hiccup by recording eight points off the bench, and he and Ryan Manoocheri, who had nine points on three three-pointers, outscored CdM’s bench, 17-5.

“The two keys were rebounding and free throws, keeping them off the line and trying to keep them off the boards,” Schachter said. “We didn’t do a very good job on either of those.”

The senior front line of Beverly Hills, 6-foot-11 center Chance Comanche and 6-4 forward Jalen Sands, gave CdM issues. Sands grabbed five offensive rebounds, leading to second-chance opportunities. Those opportunities helped produce two of the team’s three putbacks in the third quarter in which the Normans led by as many as 13.

Sands finished with 12 points, tying Holt for the team lead, and eight rebounds and two steals. Sands and Comanche each had eight points in the first half, and Comanche finished with 10 on four-for-four shooting.

Comanche, who’s bound for Arizona, was a force defensively. He blocked four shots, including one against CdM point guard St. Geme with 29.6 seconds left. The shot was one of five straight misses by the Sea Kings after St. Geme’s layup off a steal with 1:49 to go. They finally hit a basket, coming on St. Geme’s long three-pointer at the buzzer.

“I thought we fought really hard [all the way] to the buzzer,” said St. Geme, who contributed 11 points, four rebounds and two steals. “I’m proud of all my guys and we’re not done yet.

“We need to just refocus and find out who we play on Sunday. It’s just another chance to play as seniors.”

St. Geme is one of five seniors, along with Fults, Stone, Ryan Moss and Austin Ridge CdM has relied on. The team is going to have shoot better than 32.7% (16 of 49) from the field and 64.3% (nine of 14) from the free-throw line to return to its winning form.

A seven-for-12 free-throw shooting performance in the fourth quarter doomed CdM’s chances of bringing home a sixth section championship. Sam Kobrine, a junior guard, kept CdM in the game.

In the first half, Kobrine carried the Sea Kings by scoring 11 of his game-high 16 points. He nailed five of his first seven shots, and had two threes.

The first 11 minutes saw the rest of Kobrine’s teammates fail to connect on a field goal. They missed a combined eight shots. St. Geme became the first CdM player other than Kobrine to make a basket, a layup with 4:53 left before halftime. Then St. Geme and Fults hit threes 40 seconds apart to put CdM up, 21-19. The Normans closed out the first half on a 7-0 run to take a 26-21 lead into the break.

“If it wasn’t for [Kobrine], we wouldn’t have been down only five at halftime. It would’ve been by a lot more,” said Schachter, who isn’t ready to let Kobrine, Fults, Ctvrtlik and Moss leave the basketball team and join the school’s volleyball team just yet. “They have a choice, go to volleyball or keep playing basketball.

“I’m super proud of the guys. I’m just thankful I get at least a minimum of one more game to coach these guys. This is one of the seasons I just don’t want to see end. I love coaching these guys.”

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CIF Southern Section Division 3A playoffs

Championship

Beverly Hills 55, Corona del Mar 47

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Beverly Hills 10 – 16 – 15 – 14 — 55

Corona del Mar 8 – 13 – 9 – 17 — 47

BH – Sands 12, Holt 12, Comanche 10, Manoocheri 9, N. Refalian 8, E. Refalian 4.

3-pt. goals – Manoocheri 3.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.

CdM – Kobrine 16, St. Geme 11, Fults 7, Stone 6, Ctvrtlik 5, Moss 2.

3-pt. goals – Kobrine 2, St. Geme 2, Fults 1, Ctvrtlik 1.

Fouled out – None.

Technicals – None.