All Ball: Costa boys, Redondo girls reeled in after strong postseason showing
by Paul Teetor Twenty-two points. That was the super-sized, huge-upset-in-the-making lead the Mira Costa boys basketball team held over Mater Dei late in the first half of their playoff game Friday night. But by halftime the lead had been whittled down to 17 points. By the end of the third quarter it was down to eight points. And in the end, Mater Dei completed its incredible comeback to claim a 60-54 win in the CIF Division 1 semifinal game. The pain of the devastating loss and the blown lead won’t go away any time soon for the Mustangs or their coach, Neal Perlmutter. “It still stings,” Perlmutter admitted Saturday afternoon. “I give Mater Dei credit. They fought hard and pulled it out. We didn’t give it to them. They took it.” But for the longest time in the game, it looked like the best season in Mira Costa basketball history was destined to culminate in a CIF championship game appearance next week. When the Costa team got on the bus Friday afternoon to travel south for their showdown with California’s biggest athletic powerhouse, they were as dialed in as any group of teenagers Perlmutter has ever seen. “The guys were focused and ready to go,” Perlmutter said. “We all had a…
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