Murrieta Boys Basketball Season Comes to an End

The Broncos and Nighthawks were on separate Murrieta courts Friday night but seeking similar courses.

Unfortunately for both programs, their seasons came to similar ends in the CIF-Southern Section quarterfinals. The Division 1A Broncos fell to Capistrano Valley 67-55. The Division 2A Nighthawks’ wings were clipped 70-61 by Righetti.

Broncos

Tenth-seeded Vista Murrieta played aggressively against Capistrano Valley, the No. 2 seed. During the first half, the Cougars would look like they were going to run away with the game and the Broncos would fight back.

Down 5-0, then 7-2, Vista came back to tie it at 8 with 3:19 left in the first quarter. It see-sawed like that during the balance of the quarter—13-8 Capo would surge ahead only to have Vista follow.

After one quarter, it was the Cougars on top 21-13. Fifteen of those leading points were buckets by Aleks Lipovic, seemingly from every angle.

The Broncos narrowed that deficit by halftime, down by only four, 29-25.

The boys from the coast tied for first place with Mission Viejo in the tough South Coast League. They regained their momentum in the third period with their largest output of points—23, making the score 52-38.

A couple of interruptions came in the final frame.

The first was when a Cougar player hung a bit long on the basketball rim following a play to the basket, riling both the fans and Bronco head coach Andy Rucker, though not drawing enough attention from the referees to be penalized.

The second interruption came when a young fan pulled the fire alarm causing a delay in the game.

The fourth period was fairly even and the Broncos were not able to make up the earlier difference.

Bronco Anthony White contributed six baskets from beyond the three-point arc for 18 points. CIF MVP candidate Davin Guinn posted 16 points in his final game for the Broncos.

High scorer for the Cougars was Lipovic with 23 including three treys and four-for-four from the free-throw line. Nick Thomas and Jonny Bates added 14 and 12 points respectively for the winning squad.

As a team, Capistrano Valley was 15 of 17 from the free-throw stripe. Vista Murrieta was nine of 10.

The Broncos finish the season with a respectable 16-12 record and memories of a valid run for a CIF championship. They graduate half their team of 14 and look forward to next year to build on this year’s successes.

Next up for 25-4 Capistrano Valley is a Tuesday night semifinal matchup with Orange Lutheran.

Box Score:

Vista Murrieta           13   12  13   17     T  55

Capo Valley              21     8  23   15     T  67

Nighthawks

Murrieta Valley welcomed a feisty Righetti team, the sixth seed in Division 2A, who traveled 240 miles to play the third seeded Nighthawks.

Known for their tall players and fast pace, Righetti tried their best to play their game. The Nighthawks were prepared and slowed the tempo as best they could. They couldn’t, though, find the formula to keep the Warriors’ scoring phenom Ryan McGready from the basket.

McGready had five field goals and two free throws in the first quarter alone. He was fairly consistent in the final quarters with outputs of nine, six and seven points.

Head coach Kevin Barbarick has seven of his Righetti players measuring 6 feet 3 inches or taller with junior forward Chris Barbarick at 6 feet 8 inches.

Murrieta Valley, by comparison, has five players at 6 feet 3 inches or taller.  Starting forward Jackson Helms is 6 feet 6 inches.

The Warriors reached this quarterfinal game with wins over La Serna (Whittier), 68-40 and Palos Verdes Peninsula, 65-57.

The Nighthawks knocked off Chino 73-35 in the first round and Troy 65-37 in the second.

At the end of the first quarter of Friday night’s quarterfinal matchup, the visiting Warriors had an 18-12 advantage. The Nighthawks Darius Butler and Jackson Helms were the lone scorers for their home team, each making three field goals.

At halftime, the visitors had a comfortable 41-28 lead.

The Nighthawks did not fold and regained some of the difference to make it 52-42 after three quarters.

The home crowd did their best to encourage the boys in red and black with an at-times deafening roar. The Nighthawks responded with an occasional surge, even to come within six points with 6:03 left in the game, 52-46.

It was not enough.

For the game, Butler was an uncharacteristic one-of-six from the free throw stripe. He was successful otherwise, contributing 10 field goals and two three-pointers for a total of 27 points.

Reid Shackelford added 13 points.

Helms was frustrated following that first quarter and was held to only a single free throw to finish off the game with seven points, fouling out late in the game.

Coach Barbarick was proud of his Warrior team’s execution on the court.

“Obviously, we got off to a great start and that made a big difference for us,” he said.

“We were able to establish our inside game early and that really helped the flow of the game for us.”

Patrick Sims was held to just three points after his 24-point barrage earlier in the week against Peninsula. Sims rocketed seven three-pointers in that game.

Coach Barbarick said Sims had a different role Friday night and embraced it. 

“He did a great job of chasing Reid Shackelford,” Barbarick said.

Warrior Hunter Walker finished with 14 points and teammate Marcos McMorris added 13, including seven-for-seven from the charity stripe.

After the game, Murrieta Valley’s head coach Steve Tarabilda complimented the Warriors.

“They’re a strong team,” Tarabilda said.

“What I’m thankful about our guys tonight is we didn’t quit. We could have folded up the tent in the third quarter and said, ‘Okay, we just didn’t have it tonight.’ But, we battled and battled and battled.”

Murrieta Valley finishes their fine season with a 25-3 record. Seven Nighthawks will be lost to graduation with six underclassmen returning so next season will be a rebuilding year.

Righetti, the No. 2 team out of the Pac-7 League, will now play Colony in the semifinal game on Tuesday. Colony was victorious over Compton Friday night.  Righetti now owns a 24-4 record for the season.

Box Score:

Murrieta Valley  12   16   14  19     T  61

Righetti              18   23   11  18     T  70

Noteworthy: The Righetti girls basketball team hosts Murrieta Valley 7 p.m. Saturday in their quarterfinal playoff game.