MISSION VIEJO – What Capistrano Valley lacked in size, it more than made up for in effort. And with a rotation filled with guys capable of knocking down open looks, the Cougars rode their shooters to championship weekend.
Junior guard Nic Lipovic drained six 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 22 points as the Cougars shot better than 53 percent from the field and overcame what appeared to be a matchup nightmare against a towering Rancho Christian of Temecula team, 68-61, Friday night in a CIF-SS Division 2A semifinal at Capistrano Valley High.
The second-seeded Cougars (24-6) advance to next weekend’s CIF final and will play top-seeded Oxnard (27-3), who topped Vista Murrieta in the division’s other semifinal. Rancho Christian finished its season with a 20-11 mark.
“It’s amazing but we still have one more to go,” said Lipovic, amid a sea of fans on the court after the final buzzer. “We can’t start celebrating now, we still have one more game to go.”
With a trio of Rancho Christian starters standing at 6-foot-7 or taller, Lipovic, Dawson Baker and Grayson Beeman – each listed at 6-foot-3 – were forced to defend the Eagles’ giants, despite giving up at least four to six inches in height.
Rancho’s 6-foot-9 sophomore forward Isaiah Mobley scored at will in the first quarter, accounting 12 of his 22 points in the opening frame, feasting on the undersized Cougars in the paint.
Capistrano Valley trailed by seven with two minutes remaining in the first when Coach Brian Mulligan called a timeout.
“When you play teams that are really long like that, what you try to do to negate their length is keep the ball moving,” he said. “You can keep the ball moving all you want, if you don’t make shots, it doesn’t work. Once we started making those shots, I think there was a little bit of frustration in their kids.”
Three 3-pointers and a Baker fadeaway jumper at the buzzer cut Rancho’s lead to two points heading into the second. In connecting on 10 of 13 shots in the second, the Cougars took a 40-32 lead into the break it would never relinquish.
Baker finished with 15 points and Beeman added 11.
Lipovic buried five of his first six shots after halftime, including four 3s, that helped Capo earn an eight-point lead with two minutes to play in regulation.
“Coach always says when I defend better, I shoot better,” Lipovic added. “Every shot felt right.”
Rancho Christian would cut the deficit to three points with 1:27 remaining, but unable to connect from 3-point range late, the Cougars emerged from the bottom half of the bracket.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@scng.com
