Irvine’s Ali Dal looks to pass to teammate Cooper Stearns, defended by Jason Briggs of Woodbridge Tuesday night. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Irvine High School’s boys basketball team passed the first test of the season with flying colors, recording a 16-2 non-league record and winning two tournaments.
Tuesday night, the Vaqueros took another big stride, defeating Woodbridge 51-41 in the Pacific Coast League opener at Woodbridge. It’s the only regular season league meeting between the two rivals, but the teams could meet again in the season-ending league tournament.
“That was a special win, Woodbridge is a very difficult program to beat on any given night and especially in league, first game at their place, I have a lot of respect for Coach (Steve) Scoggin and what they do over here so it’s just great to get this win,” said Irvine Coach Harry Meussner. “We know we will see them again, they’re going to come back for us in the tournament because they’re a really good team, we had them circled on the calendar, we wanted this one.
“It’s a tough one to get from them and I’m really proud of our guys for pulling through.”
To see additional photos, click on the first picture:
Meussner and the Irvine seniors celebrated their first win over Woodbridge with a 10-0 run to end the game. It was Irvine’s 10th straight win.
“This is my fourth year so for the seniors and myself and the coaching staff, this is our first win over Woodbridge,” Meussner said. “We had really close games with them and really good battles so I know what it takes to finish, it’s difficult. I’m really proud of our guys, a 10-0 run to end the game and Jackson Shaffer with a huge three leading his team, talking on offense, talking on defense, his leadership was really special.”
Scoggin, the Woodbridge coach, credited Irvine.
“It just came down to they made a couple more plays than we did,” Scoggin said. “It was a close game the entire time, they run their stuff really well, they’re a very connected team. They do the little things, their role guys made more plays than our role guys, that’s what it came down to.”
Vaquero standout Cooper Stearns led the way with 25 points and 17 rebounds and celebrated the milestone win.
“First time in my career beating Woodbridge, it’s really cool us being able to come into their house, they’re a great team, a great defensive team and they have a great atmosphere, they really pushed us to our limits today, we were all really looking forward to this game the whole year and we all really wanted to win and being able to win for my first time at Woodbridge is a great feeling because for us it’s a rivalry game.”
Irvine (17-2, 1-0) also got solid efforts from Ali Dal, who had 10 points and Jalen Yim, who scored eight points.
Woodbridge (9-9, 0-1) was led by Jaiden Sabino who scored 20 points and Jason Briggs, who had 10 points.
Irvine held a 23-19 lead at halftime and led 33-29 going into the final quarter.
The teams battled it out in the final stanza. The teams were tied 41-41 going into the final three minutes. But Stearns had a basket and Yim sank a 3-pointer. Then Dal completed a 3-point play to push the lead to eight points with 1:21 remaining.
Stearns capped the win making one of two free throws with 26 seconds left.
“Shaffer’s 3-pointer was huge for us, they had a lot of momentum and he shot that thing and it went in and it gave us some momentum and Ali has been so clutch for us in fourth quarters this whole year and for him to be able to do it on arguably the biggest stretch of our season starting in league; he has so much potential and it’s really cool for him to be able to put us on our back in the fourth quarter and help us win that game,” Stearns said.
Scoggin, the Woodbridge coach, hopes his team gets another game against Irvine in the post-season tournament.
“I want to see them in the (league) finals,” Scoggin said. “That’s our goal is to be back in the finals. I know that’s their goal too. I think it would be a good one.”
Exact details of the tournament haven’t been finalized but Scoggin said the finals will likely be at Portola again. Teams play only one round during the regular league play.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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