by Paul Teetor
Mira Costa boys basketball coach Neal Perlmutter admitted this week that it took him a month – maybe more – to get over last season’s brutal three-point loss in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 Final.
“We didn’t play well at all on the biggest stage we played on all year,” he said. “It’s a bad memory.”
With a record of 29-3, Costa was heavily favored going into the game against Los Alamitos at the Toyota Arena in Ontario. The Mustangs were set up to make history by winning the school’s first Division 1 CIF title in boys basketball.
It was supposed to be the crowning achievement of Perlmutter’s eight-year run, in which he has turned a moribund program into a consistent winner.
He won the always tough Bay League three times – after Costa had gone 20 years without a Bay League crown before his arrival — and advanced deep into the playoffs every year.
If his 2024-25 team could win this Division 1 championship it would be the crowning achievement of his transformation of the Mira Costa basketball program from chronic Bay League doormat into a perennial powerhouse – much like the school’s volleyball and water polo programs.
And with eight of his top nine players seniors, it was the team’s best chance to make history.
After that, win or lose, he would have to start this season practically from scratch with only one rotation player – 6-foot-4 junior stud Paxx Bell – returning. And the team was so loaded last season that Bell wasn’t even a starter, just a spark plug off the bench, a guy who could hit a couple of three-pointers and stick his nose into the rebound battles in the paint.
Mustang fans braced themselves for a down year this season while Perlmutter developed some new stars to replace all those departed seniors. Missing were familiar faces who had been 4-year varsity players in the Mustang program, exciting players like jumping jack forward Jacob De Armas and smooth operator Eneasi “Big E” Piuleini.
With only one returning rotation player the Mustangs were given no shot at winning the Bay League title this year. Redondo, with its usual roster of high-profile transfers and out-of-district talents, has it locked up, according to all the prep experts.
Indeed, the Mustangs were not even expected to make any kind of playoff run this season.
But suddenly, after the first month of the season, the Mustangs are sporting a heady 11-1 record with Costa fans shaking their heads over Perlmutter’s developmental magic.
Asked how he is doing it against all odds, Perlmutter talked about the kids who have been in his program for four years – starting with the junior varsity — while patiently waiting their turn to shine as seniors.
“We have a lot of guys who have been in the program for four years, guys who were buried on the bench last year because we had so many good players,” he said.
Beyond those scrubs-turned-stars, Bell has continued his upward development in his junior season while averaging a double-double in points and rebounds. But the team has also gotten huge contributions from 5-foot-10 point guard Royce Reilly and 6-foot-5 junior forward Strax Dragicevic, who moved here from Serbia.
The biggest surprise has been the development of the starting center, 6-foot-7 Logan Dugdale, who is averaging 11 points and 7 rebounds.
“He’s another kid who didn’t get to play much last year, but he put in a ton of work on and off the court,” Perlmutter said. “And now it’s paying off for him and for the team.”
Similarly, Luke McKendry, a 6-foot senior guard, has emerged as a major contributor.
“He wasn’t getting any playing time last year,” Perlmutter said. “He was buried on the bench, but he kept working and now good things are happening for him.”
While Dugdale, Bell and Dragicevic are patrolling the front court and controlling the boards, Perlmutter had developed a three-headed monster at point guard: 6-foot Sheamus McGerr, Reilly and McKendry all run the point at different times, depending on what Perlmutter needs at any given time.
While running up the surprising 11-1 early season record, the Mustangs won the Bellflower Tournament and Bell was named Tournament Most Valuable Player while Reilly and Dugdale made the All-Tournament Team.
Win or lose, there has always been one constant that has become Perlmutter’s coaching signature: a full-court, pressing, suffocating defense that contests every pass, every rebound and indeed every dribble by the opposition. If you don’t buy into playing tenacious defense, you don’t play for Perlmutter – period.
“Some of the players struggled getting used to the demands placed on them by our system,” he said. “They had to get used to the conditioning required to play our kind of defense.”
That full-court pressure defense is what has carried the Mustangs to their gaudy 11-1 record.
Their two best wins were 71-65 over Loyola and 69-62 over Francis Parker – both close games in which defense made the difference.
Their lone loss was to Fairmont Prep by 61-45.
The Mustang’s game plan was on full display Saturday night as they hosted a very good Camarillo team that came in with an 8-2 record.
Costa’s suffocating defense set the tone right away. Two long range desperation heaves by Camarillo at the end of the shot clock found nothing but net, so they were able to hang with the Mustangs in the early going with the score tied 6-6 halfway through the first quarter.
Then Costa simply overwhelmed them with their depth. Their two stellar juniors, Bell and Dragicevic, were both able to bull their way to the hoop at will as well as launch 3-pointers that found their mark. When Bell ripped down a rebound, took the ball coast-to-coast and scored over two defenders, it was suddenly 16-6 and the Mustang’s lead never dipped below 10 points again.
Jayden Kainsinger came off the bench to stick a couple of short jumpers, and in the end the Mustangs never let up on their way to a 61-46 victory.
Bell, who has the look of a Division 1 prospect, led the way with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Kainsinger had 15 points and 3 offensive rebounds, and Dragicevic, a great athlete who is still learning the game, finished with 10 points.
“Paxx and Strax give us a dynamic duo,” Perlmutter said. “And I’m pleasantly surprised by how everyone else is fitting in around them. So far, so good.”
Costa Girls off to Winning Start
Meanwhile, the Mira Costa girls basketball team is off to a 6-5 start, and coach Jeff Herdman says he feels good about his team and its chances for a playoff run.
“We’ve had an extremely difficult schedule,” he said. “But I think playing all these tough teams now is going to pay off later for us.”
The Mustangs are led for the third straight year by superstar guard Kylee Yeh. The junior wizard with the ball in her hands is averaging 14 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists.
A pleasant surprise has been freshman center Mira Nyman, a 6-foot-3 double-double machine who moved here from Seattle, Washington. She is already starting for the Mustangs and averaging 12 points and 8 rebounds. Other starters include Ella Nickerson, Adrianna Martinez and Kenia Bohman.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. ER
