NEWPORT BEACH – With two weeks remaining in the boys basketball regular season, it’s a good time to take a look at playoff possibilities.
Corona del Mar is very possibly headed for the CIF Southern Section’s elite Open Division.
The Sea Kings likely strengthened their candidacy for the Open Division on Wednesday with their 76-54 win over Los Alamitos in a Sunset League game at Corona del Mar High.
Corona del Mar is 23-1 overall and 8–0 in the seven-team Sunset League. The Sea Kings are No. 10 in this week’s CIF-SS computer rankings. These are the rankings that will be used to place teams into divisions for the playoffs and seed the teams.
Last season there were 10 teams in the Open Division.
Corona del Mar coach Jason Simco wants the challenge of being in the Open Division. The top nine teams in the CIF-SS rankings this week are, in order: Sierra Canyon, Redondo Union, St. John Bosco, Harvard-Westlake, Santa Margarita, Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks, Centennial of Corona, St. Francis and Damien. Seven of those nine teams are private-school teams.
Corona del Mar, which is No. 4 in the Orange County Top 25, has two wins over county No. 5 Los Alamitos, which recently beat CIF-SS No. 8 St. Francis.
The previous Los Alamitos-Corona del Mar game was a 78-77 Corona del Mar win on Jan. 5 at Los Alamitos.
The rematch was not nearly as close.
Corona del Mar’s offense is predicated upon rapid movement of the basketball. It all starts with 6-foot-4 senior point guard Luke Mirhashemi, an outstanding court general who almost always sees when a teammate gets open and who rarely makes a bad pass.
”When you have a bunch of really good players, they have to share the ball and move it around and trust each other,” Simco said.
Corona del Mar junior guard Ryan Mansouri, who scored a game-high 23 points, said that comes from the kinship the players have for each other.
“It’s really important to all of us that we share the ball like that,” Mansour said. “It’s really fun and we all love each other.”
Mansouri scored six points in the first quarter on two 3-point baskets to guide the Sea Kings to a 17-12 lead going into the second quarter. Mansoui scored nine more in the second quarter as Corona del Mar increased its lead to 19 points, 33-14, and took a 38-26 lead into halftime.
Los Alamitos outscored Corona del Mar 17-14 in the third quarter to make a brief push.
The Griffins had a few opportunities to gain momentum in the fourth quarter, but the Sea Kings would not give in.
Mansouri made two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and his teammate, senior Oliver Nakra, scored seven points in the quarter to help keep Corona del Mar in control.
Mansouri made five 3-point baskets. Three other Sea Kings scored in double figures. Nakra scored 16 points, junior guard Maxwell Scott scored 13 points and senior Luke Mirhashemi contributed 12 points.
Scott also had nine rebounds.
Sophomore guard Riley Bowers led Los Alamitos with 19 points, 12 more than his per-game average. Isaiah Williamson scored 12 points and Tyler Lopez added 10 points.
Los Alamitos, last season’s league and CIF-SS Division 1 champion, is 14-8 overall and in second place in the Sunset League with a 5-2 league record.
Corona del Mar’s next game is a league game Friday at Marina. Los Alamitos plays a league home game Friday against Huntington Beach. Los Alamitos then plays Servite on Saturday in the Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei.
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