Irvine Coach Harry Meussner talks to his players during a timeout Thursday night. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Irvine High School’s boys basketball team built on a six-point first half lead and went on to defeat El Modena 47-34 Thursday night in the championship semifinals of the Estancia Classic at Estancia.
The Vaqueros (11-8) move on to the championship game Friday night at 7:30 against Estancia.
Sophomore center Cooper Stearns scored 18 points and grabbed 16 rebounds while dishing off six assists to lead Irvine. Senior guard Daniel Shin added 11 points, junior Ryan Bugay and sophomore Todd Bryan had eight points each for the Vaqueros.
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Drew Rodriguez scored 14 points to lead El Modena (12-5). He was the only Vanguard to score in double figures.
“We competed hard and played all four quarters,” said Irvine’s second year coach Harry Meussner. “We took care of the ball, I’m just really proud of how we competed today and how we continue to grow as a team and I know we’re headed in the right direction and we just gave ourselves a second (tournament) championship game.
“We came a little short at Rancho Alamitos and I know the boys are super excited for this opportunity.”
El Modena (12-5) put up a battle and trailed by one point after a quarter. But Irvine outscored the Vanguards 17-12 in the second quarter and led 40-30 after three quarters.
Stearns, who is averaging about 22 points a game, responded with nine points in the second half to help Irvine seal the win.
“Cooper is special, there is no doubt about it,” Meussner said. “He just leads and takes care of the ball and finishes strong inside. He’s a young man who’s growing every day and he’s extremely coachable. Every day he’s extremely coachable. He’s his biggest critic so it’s really a joy to coach him.”
Stearns was excited that he and his teammates get another chance at a title.
“I was just super proud of my teammates today, they were playing defense the right way and they were rebounding great,” Stearns said. “I loved how my guys like Ryan Bugay and Daniel Shin were putting their bodies on the line to take charges and I loved how Taweon (Kim) and Bugay and Daniel were fighting for boards there against a 6-8 and 6-4 guys, they were fighting and getting those boards and it was a real energy booster for us.
“That’s a big building block for us for the future games. If we can do that right, then we will be a pretty good team.”
Stearns was double teamed many times.
“I don’t really mind it, because I love getting my teammates involved,” he said. “Now our team is starting to build a little more chemistry and guys are cutting more and more and today we had a couple flashes where guys were cutting a couple times and we were getting open lay-ups. I’m fine with the doubles, because I would rather pass since guys are getting more buckets.”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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