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Irvine players and coaches after winning the Orange Holiday Tourney title. (PHOTOS: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).
Irvine High School’s boys basketball team is on a roll and on Monday night, once again gave notice to its upcoming Pacific Coast League opponents it will be a tough match for everyone.
In another impressive effort, the Vaqueros notched their ninth consecutive win and improved their record to 16-2 winning the Orange Holiday Classic championship for the first time with a 60-50 victory over El Toro for their second tournament title.
Irvine’s Cooper Stearns recorded an impressive double-double as the senior forward scored 19 points and hauled down 19 rebounds.
“Our winning shows that we have grit, and we’ve played with it all year,” said Stearns, who was named MVP of the tournament. “We haven’t had this type of grit before, but we have a closely knit team, and we haven’t shied away from anyone. This was our most physical game of the season, and we proved we can compete with anyone.”
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Stearns came into the game averaging 18.6 points per contest, and it was clear that the Chargers intended to double cover him and aggressively defend him from the outset each time he touched the ball.
Nevertheless, Stearns maintained a cool and focused composure and scored 15 of his game-high 19 points in the first half as Irvine took a 31-23 lead at the break.
In the third quarter, the Vaqueros drilled four 3-pointers, two by Jalen Yim and two by Holden Stearns and outscored El Toro 19-10 to take a commanding 51-33 lead after three quarters. Yim finished with five 3-pointers and scored 17 points, and Stearns, a sophomore and Cooper’s younger brother, scored 12 points.
“This was a tight match, but we hung in there together,” said Yim. “The closeness of our team has been our strength, and it made a difference tonight.”
However, the Chargers did not quit.
In the fourth quarter, El Toro’s defense forced eight turnovers – five consecutive in one span – and trimmed a 20-point deficit to eight points, following a 3-pointer by Sean Mendoza with under a minute to play, but the Chargers couldn’t draw any closer.
“It was an intense, passionate and an aggressive game and it had a league-atmosphere feel to it,” said El Toro Coach Nick Sainato. “But we missed something like 18 layups and missed wide open shots. I liked our effort but in the end we didn’t finish.”
El Toro knocked down nine 3-pointers and was led by senior guard Christien Jimenez, who scored 17 points. Lydorean Smith hit three 3-pointers and added 11 points for the Chargers (11-7).
Irvine led 15-14 after one quarter. In the second quarter, the Vaqueros held the Chargers to one basket over the final three minutes of the quarter. In the meantime, the Stearns brothers added three buckets in the final 90 seconds of the half to give Irvine a 31-23 lead at the break.
“We preach consistency, and we were consistent tonight,” said fourth-year Irvine Coach Harry Meussner. “These guys spend a lot of time together on and off the court and that closeness shows up on the court in how they support each other and how hard they play. Tonight Jalen (Yim) and Cooper (Stearns) were outstanding. This is a special team.”
Yim, Holden Stearns and Taewon Kim were named to the all-tournament team.
Notes:
—-El Toro coach Sainato said he feels his senior point guard, Christien Jimenez, “is the best point guard in Orange County. On Thursday, Christien set a school record with 14 assists in a game and the next day he scored 41 points and came within two points of setting a school single game scoring record. He’s a great finisher and has incredible vision of the game and is a great all-around player.”
––Cooper Stearns has committed to attend Stanford to play golf next season. Stearns, a scratch golfer, joked on a few accomplishments he hasn’t reached in his golf game. “I’ve never had a hole in one or a double eagle, but my dad has done all of that.”
—-Irvine defeated Chaparral, Boulder City and Shadow Ridge before reaching the tournament’s finals. El Toro defeated South East, Orange and Carson in their first three games of the tournament.
