Boys’ Basketball: Tritons fall in first CIF final
SANTA ANA — For a high school the size of Pacifica Christian, with only 95 students, how much smaller can you get? On the biggest stage of the boys’ basketball season, the Tritons looked even tinier.
Facing a starting lineup with a 7-footer, and 6-7 and 6-6 players can do that to many teams on the court. For a team like Pacifica Christian, in its first season on varsity and with four freshmen starting, it shot as though a wall was in front of its players.
Riverside Christian dwarfed the Tritons, and its length and experience proved to be too much on Saturday.
Two of those bigs — 7-foot senior Luka Filipovic and 6-6 junior Kostas Altinis — had their way with the No. 2-seeded Tritons, helping No. 1 Carnegie roll to a 75-45 win in the CIF Southern Section Division 6 finals at Godinez High.
Filipovic, who’s from Serbia, and Altinis are two of many international players on Carnegie’s talented roster. Eleven of those players sat out the first 30 days of the season because of section transfer rules.
Once players like Filipovic and Altinis became eligible in early January, the Wolverines have won 18 of 20 games under Coach Jose Hernandez. Filipovic and Altinis, along with senior point guard Kresimir Jerkov, stopped Pacifica Christian (23-4) from becoming the first boys’ basketball team in Orange County to win a section title in its inaugural varsity season.
Altinis finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds, one block and one steal, while Filipovic had 15 points and 12 rebounds. Both made seven of 15 shots and helped the Wolverines outrebound the Tritons, 51-34.
Jerkov added 13 points, seven rebounds and two steals.
Pacifica Christian Coach Jeff Berokoff had seen those players perform on film, and they impressed him more in person. What was unimpressive was his team’s shooting. The Tritons made one of 12 field goals in the first quarter.
Only one Pacifica Christian player — Dominick Harris — finished in double figures. All season, the freshman point guard led the Tritons in scoring, and he wound up with a game-high 19 points, on seven-for-25 shooting, to go with six rebounds and one steal.
“It was just one of those nights where I think we only made four out of [32] threes, and, you know, you’re not going to beat anybody playing like that, especially those guys,” Berokoff said. “Those guys are really good. They’re beating Division 1[A] teams [like Corona del Mar] this year. We knew it was going to take an almost perfect shooting game, a playing game from us, and it just didn’t happen.”
Getting any good looks in the paint against Carnegie (18-6) was problematic for the Tritons right away. They missed the first nine shots, and six of those were from three-point range.
With 1:54 to go in the opening quarter, Pacifica Christian made its first field goal. By the time Harris drove to the right and banked in a jumper, the Tritons trailed, 16-5. They added one more point, on a Harris free throw, before the quarter expired.
Harris recorded all of the Tritons’ six points in the first eight minutes. Half of those points came at the charity stripe at the 4:54 mark, after Julio Arocha fouled him while Harris took a shot behind the arc.
While the Tritons had one lone scorer, the Wolverines used a balanced attack. Altinis had two putbacks, 6-7 senior Nikola Ilic hit a jumper, made a layup and a three-pointer, Jerkov drove in for two and converted a free throw, and Filipovic completed an alley-oop dunk. Four Carnegie players scored in the first quarter.
Then 1½ minutes into the second quarter, it became a game.
Pacifica Christian freshman Timmy Bahadoor inbounded the ball just underneath the basket, going to Harris, who had a layup. Another freshman, Josh Sims, grabbed an offensive rebound off freshman Cal Whitney’s missed three-pointer and Sims quickly collected two of his seven points.
Two straight baskets, coming on a Bahadoor (nine points) putback and Harris layup, cut Carnegie’s lead to 19-14. The Wolverines answered, as Arocha knocked down his second three-pointer in a 50-second span.
Arocha’s three sparked a huge run, with Carnegie scoring the final 21 points in the second quarter. The Wolverines took a commanding 40-14 lead into the break.
“I felt once we settled down and called a timeout a little bit early, … we were able to get back to what we were doing,” Hernandez said. “We kind of wore them down a little bit there toward the end.”
After the Tritons got within five, making four of their first six shots in the second quarter, they misfired on their last 13 attempts. Pacifica Christian shot 16.1% in the first half, compared to Carnegie’s 56.7%.
The game appeared over at that point, but the Tritons’ season isn’t done with just yet.
By making a section finals appearance, Pacifica Christian qualified for the CIF State Southern California Regional Division 5 playoffs, which start next week. The Tritons learn on Sunday whom they open with in their next postseason tournament.
Getting this far for a school in its second year in existence, last season Pacifica Christian played a non-varsity schedule, the future looks bright for the Tritons.
“I feel like this game sets a high bar for us,” Harris said. “We got humbled this game.”
CIF Southern Section Division 6 playoffs
Championship
Carnegie 75, Pacifica Christian 45
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Pacifica Christian 6 – 8 – 14 – 17 — 45
Carnegie 16 – 24 – 16 – 19 — 75
PC – Harris 19, Bahadoor 9, Whitney 7, Sims 7, Belfiore 3.
3-pt. goals – Whitney 2, Bahadoor 1, Belfiore 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
C – Altinis 16, Filipovic 15, Jerkov 13, Ilic 7, Arocha 6, Ozturk 6, Bemiy 6, Akman 4, Armos 2.
3-pt. goals – Arocha 2, Ilic 1, Jerkov 1, Altinis 1, Filipovic 1.
Fouled out – None.
Technicals – None.
Twitter: @ByDCP
