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Irvine players and coaches celebrate after Wednesday’s victory over Northwood. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
It’s been quite a while since Irvine High School boys basketball fans have been able to storm the court.
They were able to do so Wednesday night to celebrate the Vaqueros 65-60 double overtime victory over Northwood in the championship game of the Pacific Coast League tournament at Portola.
With the victory, the Vaqueros clinched the program’s first league title since 1991 and only the second in school history. The Vaqueros enter the CIF playoffs on a 19-game winning streak.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
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Irvine (26-2, 9-0) goes to the CIF playoffs as the league’s number one representative while Northwood, which put up a valiant fight, enters as the No. 2 team. Northwood reached the title game upsetting No. 2 seed Sage Hill Monday night.
Both teams battled from start to finish in a highly entertaining game played in front of a big crowd and enthusiastic crowd.
“If you have to win your first league title and only second in school history for boys basketball I guess it’s got to be double overtime,” said Irvine Coach Harry Meussner.
“What a thriller, first of all credit to Northwood on a game well played and a really good game plan to double Cooper and make it hard for our guys and not let us get in the flow of our offense to begin the game but ultimately I want to give a lot of credit to my assistants, especially Coach Brian Justice who has been with me from the beginning, he has done an amazing job coaching up our offense.
“Coach Nick Young did a fantastic job with the defensive game plan.”
Meussner added that the Vaquero father and son coaching combination of Roger and Blake Williams have also made major contributions to the staff.
“It was an amazing all-around team effort,” Meussner said.
Cooper Stearns had to work for every point to seal the deal for Irvine. He wound up with 28 points and 16 rebounds to cap one of his major goals he set when he came to Irvine, a league title. His younger brother sophomore guard Holden Stearns also stepped up big with 19 points and five 3-pointers.
“It’s amazing, I remember coming here as a freshman and getting last (place) and one of our seniors told me at the end of the season, ‘go win league one of your years,’” Cooper Stearns said, adding he was skeptical.
“Now, this team is just so special and we worked so hard for it and it all paid off. I credit my whole team for this, we prepared so well and my little brother Holden did phenomenal, he put the team on his back in overtime with three after three, it was just amazing. My team won the league championship, we won it together. I couldn’t be more proud of this squad.”
Northwood led by eight points in the second quarter and held a 22-19 lead after a low scoring first half. But Irvine came out fired up in the third quarter and moved ahead 38-34 going into the final stanza.
In the final minutes of regulation Northwood’s Logan Barbee tied the score 47-47. Both teams had chances to win it regulation but came up empty.
In the first overtime, Holden Stearns scored eight points to help keep Irvine in it. In the second overtime, Northwood star Justin Liu fouled out with 3:12 left making it tough path forward for the Timberwolves.
Barbee kept the Timberwolves close with a 3-pointer late in the second OT. But Cooper Stearns sealed the win with two late free throws. Shortly after that, the celebration began.
There was joy, but also relief.
Irvine needed Holden Stearns effort throughout the night and in the first overtime to survive.
“Going into the first one (overtime), I realized that the only way for us to win this game was to have energy,” said Holden Stearns. “We’re a team that loves each other and we feed off our own energy. We got everyone hyped up. The coach always told me to have confidence in your shot, you’re going to be a great player one day. I got the ball in that first overtime, it went in and I had that confidence. It felt great to win.”
Holden Stearns added that Jalen Yim, Taewon Kim and Ali Dal also made big defensive plays to help Irvine win. Holden Stearns also had a key steal in the second overtime, drawing praise from his coach.
“Ultimately, Holden gave the program something that will never be forgotten,” Meussner said. “I am forever indebted to Holden for an excellent performance and Holden believing in himself was the most powerful part of that overtime run.”
Barbee led Northwood with 16 points. Dane Mortensen and Justin Liu added 14 points each for Northwood (14-10, 6-3).
“That’s how basketball is, it bounces one way, we’ve had some really close games where we’ve won, that obviously pushed us into this position,” said Northwood Coach Tony De La Cruz. “And luck was on our side, the basketball gods were on our side, and this one it was on Irvine’s side. You give them a lot of credit, they’re a very good team and very well coached and we just came up short.
“I told the guys I’m very proud of them, it’s supposed to hurt because they invested their time and energy, but we learn from it and we move on.”
De La Cruz said he’s optimistic about his team’s chances in the CIF playoffs.
“I think we’ve been battle tested and we know what it takes, this would have been great to win this, but we have now bigger sights in CIF,” he said.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com