PHOTOS: Costa Mesa rallies in second half for comeback victory over Santa Ana

Costa Mesa point guard Christian Dasca dribbles as he tries to find an open teammate while Santa Ana’s Nicholas Chavez pursues during the closing stages of the first quarter. (Photos: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).

Costa Mesa High School’s boys basketball team overcame a 13-point halftime deficit to defeat short-handed Santa Ana 78-67 Friday night in an Orange Coast League game at Costa Mesa.

Senior guard Christian Dasca scored 20 points, hitting five 3-pointers to lead the Mustangs (7-10, 2-1). Joshua Galamgan had 18 points, Marlee Sloane 17 points and Riley Weinstein 11 points for Costa Mesa.

Jack Rivera and Alexis Neria had 25 points each and Emmanuel Lemus 12 points for Santa Ana (8-4, 0-3). The Saints dropped their second in a row on the road, losing a double digit lead at halftime in both games.

“It was a well-fought game,” said Costa Mesa Coach Jesse Mercardo. “I think we came out a little slow. In the second half, we kind of picked up our pace a little bit and knowing they were a little under-manned, we tried to speed them up and it worked. Luckily, we settled down ourselves.”

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It was looking for promising for Santa Ana in the first half. Rivera capped the second quarter with a 3-pointer near the end of the second quarter to give the Saints a 13-point lead at the break.

But Costa Mesa outscored Santa Ana 19-6 in the third quarter to take control.

“We went to a zone, and we thought we had better rotation and better help,” Mercado said. “Obviously, they have two guys who are very high level who can score and our focus was trying to slow them down. You can’t always stop those kind of players but you can still win.”

Costa Mesa began to take control on a 3-pointer by Dasca giving the Mustangs a 60-56 lead with five minutes remaining in the game.

Santa Ana came into the game with only five players suited up and seven had to sit out as a result of an incident involving the Saints and Calvary Chapel in Wednesday night’s Orange Coast League game.

One of the five Santa Ana starters fouled out leaving the Saints with four players for the final 4:10 of the game. Costa Mesa took advantage and widened its lead before clinching the win.

“We played hard, the guys left it all on the court, I can’t complain,” said Santa Ana Coach Zach Johnson. “We got five guys and they played really hard, I can’t complain about how hard they played.”

Johnson said he couldn’t provide details on what happened in Wednesday’s game with Calvary Chapel but seven players from both Santa Ana and Calvary Chapel received one-game suspensions for Friday’s games.

“I can’t really comment about anything that happened on Wednesday,” he said. “It was a ruling that came down from CIF, so we did the best we could today.”

Calvary Chapel Athletic Director Jon Hughes confirmed via text Friday that seven Calvary Chapel players would be sitting out Friday’s game at St. Margaret’s.

“We have to play at (St.) Margaret’s with five players tonight,” he said before the game. “Seven players stepped onto the court so have to serve a one-game suspension.”

OC Sports Zone did not cover the game Wednesday at Calvary Chapel so it is not clear what happened. But it appears that play got a bit heated in the third quarter and players from both teams who were not in the game stepped onto the court. Calvary Chapel rallied for a 77-67 victory over Santa Ana, overcoming a 14-point halftime deficit.

CIF Assistant Commissioner Thom Simmons, in regards to the one-game suspensions from Wednesday’s game, said on Saturday:

“Players left the team bench area for both schools in their previous games and, by rule, were out for their next game.”

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St. Margaret’s rallies in fourth quarter to defeat Calvary Chapel

—-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com