Capistrano Valley's Boys Lose to Loyola, 74-58, in CIF Division 1A Title Game

Capistrano Valley knew that if it had any hope of upsetting powerful Loyola of Los Angeles for the CIF Southern Section Division 1A Championship, the Cougars would need to play a near-perfect game and maybe get a little help from the Cubs.

Loyola entered the game as the top-seeded team in the division, winning 23 of 28 games this season, and as the seventh-ranked team in the state had won its last five games by an average of 30 points.

So when the Cougars came out and shot 21 percent in the first half to trail by 17 at halftime, another Cubs blowout looked well in hand. However, to their credit, the Cougars fought back to cut their deficit to nine with less than six minutes remaining before running out of energy and time in a 74-58 Loyola victory Saturday afternoon at the Anaheim Convention Center Arena.

Capistrano Valley (24-7), making its first trip to a CIF section final since 2001, bounced back to shoot a respectable 48 percent in the second half, including 5 of 10 from three-point range. But the Cougars lost the rebounding battle by a resounding 46-27 (13-8 offensively) and were overwhelmed by second-chance points, 27-4.

“The rebounding margin greatly affected the way to play with them,” Cougars coach Brian Mulligan said. “They are very, very, very difficult to guard. Even though some moments we didn’t look very cohesive, they didn’t quit.”

Loyola (24-5) was making its second appearance in a CIF title game in the last three years; the Cubs lost to Eisenhower in the Division 2A final in 2009. But this season’s team was more athletic and much deeper. Senior guard Joe Stein led all scorers with 23 points and junior forward Julian Harrell added 18 points and 10 rebounds.

“We knew Capistrano Valley wanted to get the game in the 50s and 60s [points], and we wanted to get the game in the 70s and 80s,” Cubs coach Jamal Adams said. “Our advantage is in spreading the floor. We’re not tall but I think it makes a difference in offensive rebounding. We had a lot of offensive rebounds off tips.”

After suffering through a miserable shooting performance for the first half and much of the third quarter, Capistrano Valley trailed 45-25 when Mulligan replaced Nick Thomas and Stephen Short, who were a combined 4 of 18 from the field. They were clearly frustrated after missing back-to-back lay-ups (The Cougars missed 13 shots under the basket during the game). But two minutes later Mulligan reinserted both players and the Cougars’ offense finally began to click.

Thomas started it off by scoring on a layup. Short then scored five straight points and Thomas nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer — the third straight time a Cougars player had made a three at the end of a quarter — and suddenly they trailed by only 14 with the fourth quarter ahead.

“Sometimes when you’re out of the game you get a better feel of what’s happening,” Thomas said. “I knew we had one more run in us.”

Both teams traded baskets with Short scoring the first five points for the Cougars to start the last quarter. But when Loyola turned the ball over four consecutive times, a three-pointer by Thomas and a steal and basket by Spencer Fabian cut the Cubs' lead to 58-49 with 4:10 remaining. However, that would be the closest the Cougars would get.

Following a Cubs timeout, Stein missed a short jumper but freshman Parker Jackson-Cartwright, the shortest player on the court, grabbed the rebound and scored. Jackson-Cartwright then stole the ball and fed Harrell for a three-point play. Harrell missed the free throw, but Justin Childress scored on the rebound. When the Cougars missed another layup, Harrell again scored on a fast-break and the Cubs suddenly were back in control, 66-49, with three minutes remaining.

“The truth of the matter is we hung on for our dear lives,” Adams said, adding that during the timeout,  "I told them to play together. We have some good one-on-one players, but I just told them to play together.”

Thomas led Capistrano Valley with 19 points and Short added 16 points and eight rebounds. Taylor Hamasaki, the Cougars' leading scorer at 13.4 points per game, did not score a basket until early in the third quarter and finished with seven points.

“We were a little unbalanced most of the game. We didn’t get going early — Stein getting off early [with 12 points] really hurt us — and we didn’t execute our game plan very well,” Mulligan said. “Not a lot of people thought we would get here, but I am very proud of the way our players came back and played today.”