Boys’ Basketball: Mesa claims second
GARDEN GROVE — Any hope of the Costa Mesa High boys’ basketball team repeating as the Four City Classic champion ended right before the Mustangs took the court on Saturday. The Mustangs watched Garden Grove, the only team to knock off Costa Mesa in the tournament, wrap up its own tournament undefeated.
Second place was the best the Mustangs could do, and that seemed to have a negative effect on them in the opening quarter of their afternoon contest against Santa Ana Valley. After 8 minutes, the Mustangs trailed arguably the worst team in the tournament by 10 points.
The Mustangs went from giving the best team in the tournament a game the night before to giving a one-win team hope of winning its first game in the tournament.
Mason Tufuga made sure the Mustangs didn’t suffer a huge letdown. The junior forward dominated the rest of the way, finishing with a career-high 34 points, to go with 14 rebounds and five blocks to lead Costa Mesa to a 60-52 win at Garden Grove High.
Tufuga, who’s 6-foot-5, turned in his best efforts of his career on consecutive days, helping Costa Mesa go 3-1 in the tournament. Tufuga went for 27 points in an 83-70 setback to Garden Grove on Friday, and followed that up with a scoring performance that matched his jersey number.
“We tried to come back [to the tournament] and win it back-to-back, but that loss last night [to Garden Grove] kind of hit us hard,” said Tufuga, before adding that the Garden Grove game was the Mustangs’ best of the season, considering the competition.
Garden Grove and Santa Ana Valley are complete opposites. One program has 12 wins and the other 13 losses.
The Mustangs (6-4) got back on track against lowly Santa Ana Valley (1-13) in the second quarter, outscoring the Falcons, 13-2, to take a 23-22 lead at halftime. Tufuga got Costa Mesa rolling early on, grabbing a defensive rebound, before going coast-to-coast for a left-handed layup.
The only successful shot by the Falcons in the second quarter came with 5:47 left, on a jumper by Mauricio Garcia, who finished with 18 points. Santa Ana Valley missed its next 13 attempts, while the Mustangs scored the quarter’s final 11 points. Three players produced points for Costa Mesa during the run. Chris Calderon hit a three-pointer, Tufuga had two baskets, Nabeel Salameh converted two free throws, and Calderon’s floater near the baseline with two seconds left in the half put the Mustangs ahead for the first time.
The third quarter featured a lot of Salameh. The 6-4 junior recorded nine of his 13 points in the period. He also nailed a three-pointer midway through the quarter, showing his range. But with Salameh and Tufuga in the post, the Mustangs had their way against the smaller Falcons, outscoring them, 17-6, in the third quarter.
Tufuga was tough to defend because of his size, his left-handed shot, and his ability to dribble. He was 14 for 22 shooting, going seven for 11 in both the first and second halves. Twenty of Tufuga’s points came in the second half, six from the free-throw line. The only issue Tufuga had was making just 50% of his foul shots.
“Those are [six] points that are going to be important later,” Tufuga said of the missed free throws.
Tufuga plans to work on his free-throw shooting during the holiday break, in time for the Mustangs’ next tournament. They are heading for the desert to play in the MaxPreps Holiday Classic.
The Mustangs open the five-day tournament in the Design Pro Division against Los Angeles Pacific Hills on Friday at 1:30 p.m. The site will be at Palm Valley High in Rancho Mirage, and it will be another tournament game in the afternoon for Costa Mesa, which struggled early on against Santa Ana Valley.
“We got to do a better job of playing to our potential fully all the time,” said Costa Mesa Coach Mike Molina, who led his alma mater to a 19-9 record last season, tying the program’s single-season record for wins. “One of our goals was to try and kind of get another [Four City Classic] championship, but it ended up not happening [because we lost to Garden Grove on Friday] night [and Garden Grove beat Santa Ana on Saturday].
“[The afternoon] is probably the worst time to play a game, but we have to do a better job of coming out ready to compete, regardless of what happened the night before.”
Four City Classic
Costa Mesa, 60, Santa Ana Valley 52
SCORE BY QUARTERS
CM 10 – 13 – 17 – 20 — 60
SAV 20 – 2 – 6 – 24 — 52
CM – Tufuga 34, Salameh 13, Carrasco 5, Calderon 5, Petrecca 2, Pepic 1.
3-pt. goals – Calderon 1, Salameh 1, Carrasco 1.
SAV – Rios 24, Garcia 18, Reyna 6, Navas 2, Davila 2.
3-pt. goals – Rios 5, Garcia 2.
Fouled out – Davila, Reyna.
Twitter: @DCPenaloza