Capistrano Valley Clamps Down on San Clemente for 60-40 Victory

It seemed like old times Friday evening when the Capistrano Valley boys basketball team traveled to play a familiar foe just down the I-5, the San Clemente Tritons. For years the two teams battled one another for South Coast League supremacy, but with the Tritons moving to the Sea View League, this meeting was their first for the 2010-11 season.

“This place has been a thorn in my side for a long time,” Cougars coach Brian Mulligan said wistfully.

This time, however, all the pain was felt by the Tritons.

Capistrano Valley used a balanced scoring attack, an effective interior defense and a superior rebounding advantage to cruise past San Clemente, 60-40, in the second round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1A playoffs.

The Cougars (22-6) will travel to Victorville on Tuesday to face Silverado, which defeated Palmdale, in the quarterfinals. San Clemente ends it season at 14-14.

Leading by only seven at halftime, Capistrano Valley outscored San Clemente, 18-8, in the third quarter to take a comfortable 17-point lead into the fourth. Junior Aleks Lipovic, who lived in San Clemente, scored seven of his game-high 15 points in the quarter, the final two coming on a steal and layup.

Then, in the fourth quarter, junior Stephen Short took over, scoring eight of his 14 points to give the Cougars their biggest lead of the game, 60-35, with three minutes remaining. Taylor Hamasaki added 12 and Jonny Bates 10 for Capistrano Valley.

The Cougars outrebounded San Clemente, 33-20, including a seven-to-four advantage offensively. Chris Bench led all players with eight boards.

“I thought we were lethargic early,” Mulligan said. “But I thought Aleks Lipovic played well and Stephen Short got every loose ball. I was really proud of those two. I thought our big [players] were much more effective than their big [players].”

While Capistrano Valley shot an efficient 46 percent from the field and 70 percent from the free-throw line, San Clemente looked more like the gang that couldn’t shoot straight than it did a playoff team.

After the first quarter, the Tritons made only two field goals in the second quarter, and four field goals in each of the third and fourth quarters. They shot only 29 percent from the field and were an abysmal 3 of 25 (12 percent) from three-point range. From the free throw line they made 5 of 11 attempts.

“That has been the Achilles’ heal for them,” Mulligan said. “We wanted to see if they could shoot jump shots.”

Junior guard Blake Kubly led the Tritons with 16 points, most of them from inside the key, while Jake Jessup added six.