Corona del Mar’s boys basketball team looks a lot like last season’s Los Alamitos boys basketball team.
Like the Los Alamitos group that won the CIF-SS Division 1 title a year ago, Corona del Mar does not have that one player who is going to be the team’s leading scorer game after game.
“This group is as unselfish as they come,” said Corona del Mar coach Jason Simco. “They share the ball, they don’t care who takes the shot as long as it’s the right shot, and they enjoy each other’s success.”
Corona del Mar has the best record, 27-1 overall, among Orange County’s boys basketball teams. The Sea Kings’ lone loss was to Lake Washington (Washington), 87-82, in double overtime in a Desert Holiday Classic championship game on Dec. 30.
The Sea Kings then started their Sunset League schedule and went 12-0 in the seven-team league to win the league championship.
Sea Kings 6-3 junior guard Maxwell Scott is the leading scorer at 22 points a game. Scott also leads the team in rebounding at seven rebounds a game.
Luke Mirhashemi, a 6-4, left-handed senior point guard and very much the quarterback of the team, is averaging seven assists a game and can score whenever needed.
Oliver Nakra, a 6-foot guard who is one of Orange County’s better shooters, is scoring 17 points a game and has a team-high 91 3-point baskets.
Ryan Masouri is a good example of the “different player/different game” results for Corona del Mar. The junior guard averages 10 points a game. He scored 23 points in a league win over Los Alamitos and 25 points in a nonleague win over Orange Lutheran.
Corona del Mar might be in the elite Open Division when the playoff information is released Saturday at noon. The number of teams in the Open Division is not known until the brackets are released.
Last year’s Open Division was a 10-team group. An examination of the computer rankings of the Southern Section’s 516 teams indicates that the Open Division could be a 12-team group this season.
Corona del Mar was at No. 9 in the last release of the power rankings.
Simco hopes the Sea Kings remain ranked high enough to get into the Open Division. He is confident his team has what it takes to thrive in that top-shelf field.
“This is the true definition of ‘team,’” Simco said.
NOTES
CIF Southern Section boys and girls playoff brackets will be released Saturday at noon. For the boys, first-round games are Tuesday in Divisions 1-9. The Open Division boys begin pool-play games on Friday, Feb. 13. …
The CIF-SS is not using the “A” and “AA” for divisions this season. That has been simplified to Division 1, Division 2, Division 3, etc., to Division 9. …
The Trinity League had its first league tournament, modeled after college basketball conference tournaments. Santa Margarita (26-3) won the tournament championship with a 57-56 win over St. John Bosco (20-7) in the final Wednesday. When Santa Margarita and St. John Bosco played each other in a league game last month, St. John Bosco won 74-73 in double overtime at Santa Margarita High. …
Santa Margarita senior guard Kaiden Bailey was scoreless in Wednesday’s win. Bailey, an Orange County player of the year candidate, is averaging 19 points a game. The Eagles get plenty of scoring punch elsewhere, and they got that again with Drew Anderson scoring 24 points and Brayden Kyman scoring 20 against Bosco. …
JSerra (19-12) beat Mater Dei (17-14), 87-66, in the Trinity League Tournament’s third-place game Wednesday. …
Mater Dei has qualified for the boys basketball playoffs every season since Gary McKnight became the program’s coach in 1982. Mater Dei is the No. 4 team in the Trinity League. Only the top three finishers in a six-team league like the Trinity League are automatic qualifiers so the Monarchs can only get into the playoffs as an “at-large” team, which is CIF-SS parlance for “wild-card” team. …
Crean Lutheran (21-7) won the Crestview League championship with a 7-1 league record. La Habra (21-7), led by mega-valuable and county player of the year candidate Acen Jimenez, finished second and Cypress (18-10) took third. Fourth-place Canyon (16-12), which has been in the playoffs the past 21 seasons, can get into the playoffs as an at-large team. …
The Pacific Coast League concluded its league tournament Tuesday. Woodbridge (19-9) rallied from a 13-point deficit to beat Portola (22-6), 51-50. Woodbridge’s Jason Sabino, a senior missed some of this season because of a broken hand, scored 10 of his game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter. …
Esperanza went 7-1 in the North Hills League to win the league championship. The Aztecs take a 24-3 overall record into the playoffs. Their regular season included a 17-game winning streak. …
El Dorado also had a long winning streak during the season. The Golden Hawks (25-3) won 14 in a row from Nov. 20 to Dec. 30. They are the Freeway League champions. …
Laguna Hills (13-11) won the Golden West League championship, the team’s first league title since the 2006-07 season. Hawks sophomore Fletcher Freeman scored 25 points Monday in the team’s championship-clinching win, 65-55, over Godinez (20-8). …
The San Joaquin League had a three-way tie for the league championship, with Fairmont Prep, Pacifica Christian and San Gabriel Academy all going 4-2 in league. Michael Noel scored 15 points for Pacifica Christian on Wednesday as the Tritons (20-7) beat Fairmont Prep (17-11), 50-46, to snag a share of the league title. …
San Clemente (18-10) and Tesoro (25-3) are South Coast League co-champions. The Tritons beat the Titans 69-64 on Monday to earn a share of the title. Desi Gutierrez scored 20 points with 16 rebounds for San Clemente. Both teams went 7-1 in league. …
Aliso Niguel won the Sea View League championship with an 8-0 league record. Jayden Mysin is averaging 21 points a game for the Wolverines (20-8). …
Orange Coast League champion Segerstrom finished the regular season strong. The Jaguars (18-9) won their final six regular-season games, including a 48-44 win over Ocean View, which had handed the Jags their one league loss. …
Kennedy lost its first two Empire League games. The Fighting Irish (18-8) then won their next six league games to capture the league championship. …
Bolsa Grande and La Quinta used to battle in the Garden Grove League. Now they are in separate leagues, and they each won their league title. Bolsa Grande (14-10) is co-champion of the Orange League and La Quinta (16-11) is co-champ of the Grove League. …
Los Amigos (20-7), led by top scorers Mekhi Belote and Philip Steinert, went 8-0 in the Coast League.