The562’s coverage of Cabrillo Athletics is sponsored by the Cohn Family.
Playoff basketball is all about who’s better on the given night, and Cabrillo had its hands full against a prepared Irvine team on Tuesday in the CIF-SS Division 2A quarterfinals. The Jags started the game slow and fell behind early before making a late push but came up empty handed in a 71-66 loss.
Cabrillo chased back from being down 13 points in an electric fourth quarter to bring themselves within one possession multiple times in the closing minutes. The visitors would eventually ice the game on a pair of trips to the line, but there was no question in the fight and ability of the Jags.
“They’re just resilient. I don’t think the effort is ever the issue,” said Cabrillo coach Chris Spencer. “We knew we had a chance. There wasn’t a big discrepancy in the talent of either team but we just needed something to go our way and enough stuff didn’t. That’s the playoffs. It’s who is better that night and that’s what it comes down to.”
The Vaqueros came out with a simple game plan of putting the ball in the hands of senior center Cooper Stearns who was dominant from inside the paint. Stearns left his mark early with 18 of his team-high 25 points in the first half, all while finishing with a monstrous 19 rebounds and seven assists.
“Ultimatly, I don’t think I had us in the right game plan,” Spence said. “The film I had made me think we’d be okay due to some questionable calls and guys in fouls but I thought that they just dictated everything all night and we were always in scramble mode.”
Around Stearns were a handful of shooters who contributed to 6/17 shooting from three on the night for Irvine and helped grow their lead to as big as 13 points. Holden Stearns added 16 points and three threes while Ali Dal had 14 points and Jalen Yim had ten.
For the Jags, most of their success for the night came with the ball in the hands of senior Aden Jones who finished the night with a game-high 29 points. It was clear that any chance of a completed comeback would fall on his shoulders, and Jones nailed two key buckets to keep Cabrillo in the game in the final minutes.
The Jags also found 13 points from senior Lincoln Dean, meanwhile Marquees Reed Jr. had 10 points. Mason Johnson also chipped in eight.
“It’s gonna be hard to replicate those guys,” said Spencer of his senior’s final performances. “It’s gonna be hard to find some guys like that for our program to hopefully match what they did and be a little bit better on some of the things they didn’t maximize on. It’s a fun journey. We’re gonna be in the gym and in the lab and figure it out all over again.”
Cabrillo finished the season with 19 total wins which sets a new record for most wins in a season in program history. The record breaks last season’s previous record of 18 wins, and it’s safe to say that the Westside is in safe hands with Spencer leading the program.
“It’s nothing but praise and appreciation,” he said of his team this year. “I don’t want those guys to hang their heads because they were phenomenal. Like all year even being down to the last team standing. We knew we were a championship team but it didn’t work out this time. We just need to get over the Cabrillo quarterfinal curse.”
Irvine will move onto the semifinals on Friday at St. Bonaventure.
