Capistrano Valley's Boys Lose Playoff Game to Westchester

When you shoot 28 percent from the field, you better play some good defense if you want to win a basketball game.

Unfortunately for Capistrano Valley the Cougars were unable to do either on the road Tuesday night as they fell to defending Division I state champion Westchester, 61-44, in a CIF Southern California Regional Division 2 first-round playoff game.

“We just don’t see teams with that kind of speed and athleticism in the South Coast League,” Capistrano Valley coach Brian Mulligan said. “They were just quicker than us at every position and they also play really hard and smart. They are a really good team.”

The 10th-seeded Cougars (24-8) fell behind early, made a brief surge in the third and fourth quarters to give the seventh-seeded Comets a moment for concern, but could never really match the speed of Westchester.

The Comets (27-7) used a suffocating defense to force Capistrano Valley into committing 21 turnovers that led to 36 fast-break points for Westchester.

“We did not handle the ball well on offense,” Mulligan said. “They did a great job of shutting down Taylor [Hamasaki] and Nick [Thomas]. Those guys have been our spark all year on offense, and they just took them out of their games.”

Guards Hamasaki and Thomas were the Cougars' leading scorers this season but were both held below their season averages as the Comets' defense harassed each player into committing six turnovers apiece.

“We just didn’t seem to get into any rhythm offensively,” Hamasaki said. “It was tough getting an open shot. If I happened to beat one guy, it felt like they had two other guys right in my face.”

The Cougars were led by two juniors: forward Stephen Short, who had a team-high 12 points, and Thomas, who added 11 points but made only four of 15 shots from the field.

“My shot just wouldn’t fall,” Thomas said. “I think they zeroed in on Taylor and that left me with some good looks, but I just couldn’t knock them down. It was frustrating.”

Capistrano Valley needed only to look up at all the City and State championship banners hanging from the rafters to know that they had a tough task against Westchester.

“Our kids were all staring at the banners when they walked in,” Mulligan said. “There is a big history of winning in this gym and I think maybe the kids got a little intimidated by all that history.”

Perennial powerhouse Westchester has won the previous two CIF State championships and has six championships under legendary coach Ed Azzam. But Azzam feels that this might be his most rewarding season ever after graduating 11 players from last year's City Section and State championship squad.

“We weren’t supposed to do anything this year,” Azzam said. “Every coach said that we heard you were down this year and then they play us and are surprised at how good we really are.”