South Coast Holiday Tournament : Irvine Dominates Dana Hills in Final : Vaqueros Shut Down Dolphins in First Quarter, Roll to 54-35 Victory

With about 7 minutes left in the first quarter, Dana Hills High School forward Mike Fedden tipped in a missed shot to tie the score at 2-2.

Just thought we’d get the one Dana Hills highlight out of the way, because the South Coast Christmas Tournament final between Dana Hills and Irvine was all Irvine.

The Vaqueros won the game, 54-35, Friday at Estancia High. They outrebounded, outshot and out-thought Dana Hills throughout. The only notable category that Dana Hills had an edge was turnovers, with 10. Irvine made 5.

After Fedden’s tip, Irvine outscored Dana Hills, 17-4, in the first quarter. For the most part, the Vaqueros did it by making jump shots. Of their eight first quarter field goals, only two were closer than 10 feet.

They shot from all over the place and everyone shot. When Tom Bulone made a 12-footer with 2:55 left in the first half, he became the eighth Vaquero to score in the half. Bulone’s shot would give Irvine a 27-14 halftime lead.

Dana Hills drew within 11 points twice in the third quarter, and got as close as 12 twice in the fourth quarter. But any hint of a Dana Hills rally was answered with a swift couple of baskets by Irvine.

Though his team seemed to make shots at will, Irvine Coach Steve Keith credited his defense with the victory.

“We shot well tonight,” Keith said. “But anytime you hold a team to 6 points in the first quarter and 14 points for the first half, well, you don’t have to shoot well when you do that to an opponent.”

Things were going so well for Irvine, and so poorly for Dana Hills, that the Vaqueros made just one field goal in the fourth quarter and still outscored Dana Hills, 16-14, in the quarter.

Bryan Allred, the tournament’s most valuable player, led Irvine in scoring with 13 points. Todd Trout added 12.

John Lloyd, with 14 points, was the only Dana Hills player to score in double figures.

In the third-place game:

Estancia 44, Edison 38--Mike Curtis scored 14 points and Augustin Heredia 12 to lead Estancia (11-1). The Eagles were held to 3 points in the second quarter and trailed, 21-15, at halftime. However, Estancia outscored Edison, 12-5, in the third quarter to take a 27-26 lead. Tim Kjar scored 10 points for the Eagles. Bill Martineau scored 11 points for Edison (5-7).

In the consolation championship:

Corona del Mar 62, Los Alamitos 61--Matt Cwiertnia scored 20 points to lead Corona del Mar. The Sea Kings trailed, 52-50, going into the fourth quarter but rallied behind Jeff Jackson, who scored 7 of his 12 points in the final quarter. Brian Spratt had 13 points for Corona del Mar. Robert Conlisk scored 20 points and Anthony Napolitano 13 for Los Alamitos.

In other consolation games:

Mission Viejo 61, Glendale Hoover 52--Jim Buthko scored 16 points and Mick Cramer 14 to lead the Diablos. Mission Viejo led, 24-15, at the end of the first quarter and held the lead the rest of the way. Hoover’s John Hillman had 30 in the game, which gave him a 115 for the tournament, 4 points shy of the tournament record set by Edgewood’s John Moses last year.

Long Beach Jordan 81, Laguna Hills 72--David Mitchell scored 23 points to lead Long Beach Jordan. Beau Hossler and Chris Sheff each scored 19 points for Laguna Hills.

Cypress 42, Laguna Beach 41--Gabe Trinidad and Mark Johnson combined for 9 points in the fourth quarter as the Centurions rallied for the victory. Cypress trailed, 35-33, at the end of the third quarter.