Calvary Chapel Falls to St. Joseph When Long Shots Don’t

IRVINE —  Calvary Chapel filled the air at the UC Irvine Bren Center Friday night with three-point shots.

The Eagles thrived and dived with them in their 75-67 overtime loss to Santa Maria St. Joseph in the Southern Section Division IV-AA boys’ basketball final.

They used three-pointers to take a quick 11-point lead in the first quarter, then fell behind by as many as 14 points eight minutes later when the shots wouldn’t fall. They climbed back into the game in the fourth quarter on the strength of numerous NBA-style baskets by forward Brett Young and guard Joe Ortiz, but couldn’t get their final five attempts to drop in the last 30 seconds.

It was the second consecutive season in which Calvary Chapel (21-8) got into a sectional final and went cold, but this loss was devastating, Ortiz said. Last season the Eagles, who are 0-6 at the Bren Center, fell to heavily favored Santa Monica Crossroads in both Southern Section and Southern Regional finals.

“This hurts a lot more,” said Ortiz, who finished with 33 points, eight rebounds and six assists. “Last year we were the underdog. This time we really expected to win.”

Ortiz made four of 15 three-pointers. Young made six of 22 and had 23 points. They don’t keep records on such things, but the Eagles’ 49 three-point shots had to set some kind of mark for a playoff final. In all, Calvary Chapel made 24 of 80 field goals, 12 of those three-pointers.

Ortiz had the ball in his hands almost all of the final 30 seconds of regulation and had a chance to win the game. His driving, off-balance eight-foot jumper hit the rim with less than a second remaining and did not drop.

A rejuvenated St. Joseph (23-7)--which got a rebound and the game-tying basket from Mike Hoffman with 32 seconds left--scored the first four points in overtime and never looked back.

“I didn’t want us to shoot that many threes,” Falconer said. “Maybe we lost confidence in our inside game and thought we had to shoot them. They were smart, they went to a zone defense. They couldn’t stay with us in man and we tried to shoot over it.”

Calvary Chapel started strong with Ortiz scoring 11 of their first 15 points.

A three-pointer by Ortiz made it 20-10 in favor of Calvary Chapel, but Young picked up his third foul with 6 minutes 14 seconds left and Falconer moved Ortiz back to the point and pushed Young out to the left wing.

Meanwhile, Calvary’s long-bomb attack was falling short and three starters--Young, guard Jake Fabozzi and forward Tim Baker--had three fouls each. Calvary Chapel scored just nine points in the second quarter.

St. Joseph outscored the Eagles 18-2 to close the half. It didn’t get any better as the third quarter got underway. The Eagles came out firing, but missed their first two three-pointers and then committed a turnover, while the Knights were more patient and got a pair of baskets for a 40-26 lead.

Guard Pat Dinnie got the team’s first three-pointer of the quarter with 6:01 left and Calvary Chapel managed a 15-8 run thanks to three three-pointers by Young. They trailed, 48-43 with 1:05 left in the quarter.

The Knights upped the lead to 56-44, but then Calvary Chapel found its touch. Over the next four minutes the Eagles went on a 13-0 run for a 57-56 lead and later, following a three-pointer by Ortiz, took a 63-61 lead with 45 seconds to go.