MISSION VIEJO — Trabuco Hills’ Ryan Hull was definitely the star in the Mustangs’ 69-62 victory over Norte Vista in the CIF-SS Division 4 boys basketball semifinals on Friday at Trabuco Hills High School.
Hull scored 37 points and had 10 rebounds. He got help from a supporting cast that got the ball in the hands of the senior guard and made its share of pivotal plays.
The Mustangs will now make their first trip to a CIF Southern Section final since defeating Kennedy, 52-50, in the Division II A final in 1992.
Hull’s performance was a bounce back of sorts after he fouled out early in the fourth quarter of the Mustangs’ 99-92 triple-overtime victory over Blair in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
“It feels amazing,” Hull said. “I’ve put in this work and its finally paying off. Coach got on me about fouling out in the last game. He said the team needs me in this game. So, we’ve just been putting in the work all week and came out confident.”
Hull came out shooting, hitting three 3-pointers on his first three shots of the first quarter and hit eight 3-pointers in the game.
“He just showed up here tonight like a man possessed and was ready to play,” Mustangs coach Sean Sullens said.
When three defenders converged on Hull with just under five minutes remaining in the game, he passed off to Scott Warnick, who scored on an easy layup to give the Mustangs a 61-49 lead.
Isiah De Lorez made a clutch basket to give the Mustangs a 64-53 lead with one minute, 38-seconds remaining in the game.
After Bryan Ramirez hit a 3-pointer to get the Braves (18-11) to within eight, Shoji Karst scored to give Trabuco Hills a 10-point lead with one minute remaining.
Hugo Morales, who came in averaging 31 points per game for the Braves, scored 23 points before fouling out in the fourth.
The Braves led twice in the game.
A 5-0 run put the Braves ahead 20-17 and Ramirez’s free throw gave the Braves a 22-21 lead.
A 3-pointer from Hull gave Trabuco Hills a 24-22 lead and the Mustangs never trailed again. They maintained at least an eight-point lead throughout the fourth quarter.
Hull’s running 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the third quarter put Trabuco Hills up by 11 and seemed to give the Mustangs the momentum boost they needed going into the fourth.
“To have a team playing their best basketball at the end of the year is fantastic,” Sullens said.