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CdM Coach Jason Simco with (from left) Jackson Harlan and Maxwell Scott. (PHOTO: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
(Second in a series of articles from the inaugural 2024 Orange County Boys Basketball Media Day at Crean Lutheran High School).
Corona del Mar High School’s boys basketball team, coming off a 25-8 season and a long CIF playoff run under Coach Jason Simco, looks to continue that success this season with four returning starters.
“We were co-league champions with Marina last year in the Wave League, we’ve lost Laguna Beach so now we’ve become the Sunset Conference, and the Sunset League, we play everybody twice,” Simco said.
“We lost in the semifinals to Long Beach Poly, Marina ended up winning our division.”
The returning starters for CdM are 6-6 senior Jackson Harlan, 6-2 sophomore Maxwell Scott, 5-10 senior Ganon Overfelt and 6-4 junior Luke Mirhashemi, an all-league player last year.
“We’ve also added a transfer from Huntington Beach, Oliver Nakra, who averaged 19 points a game last year as a sophomore and was an all-league performer as well,” Simco said.
Nakra is a 6-1 junior.
Scott was the Sea Kings leading scorer from last year and was the Wave League MVP, first team All-CIF and first team all-Orange County. Scott played freshman football last year but decided to put his entire efforts toward basketball.
“I’ve really seen a lot of growth and development in his game and body,” Simco said.
Harlan is a two-time first team all-league player, who is also a standout water polo player.
“I think he’s an early candidate for Orange County athlete of the year,” Simco said. “I don’t know anybody like him who spends the fall in the pool, the spring in the pool and the summer in the pool and he comes out in the winter and he starts in basketball for us for three years and is all-league.”
Simco realizes the league will once again be tough.
“Los Al will be a top three team in the county, Marina returns four of five starters from a CIF championship team, Newport Harbor, Edison and Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach all have really good players and really good coaches,” Simco said. “It should be a fun year for the Sea Kings.”
Roster
The rest of the CdM roster includes 6-2 junior Brady Annett, 6-0 sophomore Ryan Mansouri, 5-10 senior Alexander Hoshimi, 5-10 junior Andrew Rabin, 6-1 junior Aiden Cole, 6-1 senior Aidan Saeedi, 6-2 junior Grayson Porter, 6-2 senior Preston Kousoulas, 6-2 senior Ryder Watson, 6-5 senior Kai Goldberg and 6-1 junior Landon Rucker.
Schedule
CdM opens with Costa Mesa Tuesday, meets Mt. Carmel Monday at Marina and has tournaments at Mission Viejo and Savanna and opens league play Friday, Dec. 20 vs. Marina.
—-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
