MISSION VIEJO – Mission Viejo’s first shot at a second chance was a winning one.
The Diablos beat El Camino of Oceanside, 79-72, Wednesday in a CIF Southern California Regionals Division 1 first-round game at Mission Viejo High.
Mission Viejo (25-7) lost to Long Beach Poly in the CIF-Southern Section Division 1AA championship game Saturday at Honda Center. Wednesday’s win sends the Diablos to Loyola of Los Angeles (25-3) to play a Division 1 second-round game Saturday at 6 p.m.
The CIF Southern California Regionals is the qualifying tournament for the CIF State Championships. Regionals winners in the north and south meet in the state finals March 28 and 29 in Sacramento.
El Camino, a semifinalist in the CIF-San Diego Section’s Open Division, finished 27-5.
Chandler Hutchison, as usual, led the way for Mission Viejo. He scored 23 points with 13 rebounds. Hutchison, a 6-foot-6 senior who signed with Boise State, scored more than half of his team’s points Saturday in the Diablos’ 54-46 loss to Long Beach Poly.
Sophomore guard Noah Rasheed scored 21 points. He made 9 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter. His freshman brother Kaden Rasheed scored 18 including two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter. Senior center Dallas Hartmann scored 14 with 13 rebounds and two blocked shots.
Mission Viejo had a 15-point lead early in the third quarter. El Camino cut the lead to one on a 3-pointer by Devin Watson. Kaden Rasheed responded with a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the quarter to give the Diablos a 53-49 advantage going into the fourth.
El Camino early in the final quarter took a 54-53 lead, the Wildcats’ first since the first quarter. Kaden Rasheed made another 3-pointer to put the Diablos on top again, 56-54, and they would expand the lead from there.
Mission Viejo shot 52 percent from the field and was 15 for 20 at the free throw line. The Diablos made 16 turnovers, 10 of them in the first half.
Hutchison, averaging 20 points a game, said the turnovers are part of the learning process.
“Our guards are learning,” he said. “We’ve kind of struggled handling the ball all season so I’m not surprised.”
But Hutchison liked the way Mission Viejo finished strong.
“We did a better job at the end,” he said. “We stepped up when we needed to.”
The regionals offer another chance for section runners-up, like Mission Viejo, and even for teams eliminated in section semifinals.
“We want to show what we can do,” Hutchison. “Maybe we’ll surprise some teams.”
