by Paul Teetor
The undefeated Mustangs were on a roll, crushing every team in their path.
But this game was going to be different. Mira Costa boys basketball coach Neal Perlmutter knew that even before the game.
Just how different he had no idea.
In racing out to a 10-0 start to the new season, the Mustangs had won both tournaments they entered and blown out most of their opponents by 20 or more points. Typical scores were 76-47 over Lakewood, 84-26 over El Toro and 85-35 over neighboring El Segundo.
Indeed, their closest margin of victory had been 14 points, 80-66 over Rancho Cucamonga, and even that game had not been as close as the final score indicated.
The senior-laden Mira Costa squad was dominating everybody they played. But not on this Tuesday night in mid-December when they hosted Riverside Poly.
“They’ve got two kids who are Division 1 college prospects,” Perlmutter said. “They’re really good.”
But somehow his team, perhaps over confident because they were so used to rolling over everyone in their path, had not gotten the message.
“I told the kids not to pay attention to the rankings,” Perlmutter said when reminded that the LA Times had Mira Costa ranked in the top 20 Southland teams and the Daily Breeze had them ranked second – behind only their archrival Redondo — in the South Bay. “I told them to just concentrate on the team in front of them.”
Costa and Poly battled to a 10-10 tie in the early going, with several bad signs for Costa: drives to the hoop were getting rejected, three-point shots rimmed out even though they looked to be on target, and Riverside Poly had an effective game plan for how to handle the Mustang’s relentless, all-court pressure defense. They positioned their best shooters in both corners, moved the ball quickly around the perimeter and got themselves open for shots that they made consistently.
“It was an uncharacteristic slow start for us,” Perlmutter said. “I didn’t like our shot selection and our spacing was off.”
Then it got worse.
Over the next few minutes Riverside Poly went on a 9-0 run, and ended the first period with a 22-12 lead. The home crowd was stunned. Where were the dominant Mustangs they had been watching all season?
Actually, they had mostly read and heard about how good the Mustangs were. This was only the third home game of the season that had started a month ago. Most of their games were away at the two tournaments they won.
When the second quarter started, Perlmutter’s intense, year-round focus on skill development started to pay dividends when senior wing Bryson Bryker nailed a smooth, nothing-but-net three-pointer and then scored on an old-fashioned three-point play – a drive plus a foul shot – to cut Poly’s lead down to 25-18.
It was fitting that Bryker should lead the Mustang’s comeback since no one had foreseen a big role for him before the season started. Bryker had always been on the fringe of Perlmutter’s program, working his way up from the junior varsity. But the 6-foot-3 senior was overshadowed by all the other seniors on this team, with five senior starters and a 13-man rotation that reflects the talent pipeline and deep bench Perlmutter has developed in his seven years as the Mustang coach
“Guys mature at different rates,” Perlmutter said. “But Bryson kept working hard, got stronger, and got more skilled. Now he’s one of our best players and he’s being recruited by Division 3 colleges.”
Indeed, Bryker was named MVP of the Bellflower Tournament, which the Mustangs won easily.
“That was pretty exciting for a guy who rode the bench last year,” Perlmutter said.
Next to step up for Costa was their game-in, game-out best player, Eneasi Piuleini, a 6-foot-7 smooth-as-silk senior. First, he drilled two foul shots and then grabbed a rebound and hit a stick-back to cut the lead to 27-26.
“E is our leading scorer, averaging around 17 points per game,” Perlmutter said. “He can score at all three levels – 3 pointers, mid-range game and in the post area.”
Costa’s domination of the boards was starting to pay off when suddenly the rebounding action went from very physical to semi-violent.
Costa’s jumping jack senior forward, 6-foot-4 Jacob De Armas, got tangled up with a Poly player who at first refused to let go of the ball when the whistle sounded and then refused to let go of De Armas’ head. He had him in a wrestling-style headlock as they both crashed into the wall behind the Costa backboard.
Naturally De Armas objected to the headlock and tried hard to get out of it as players from both sides ran out on the court and had to be separated by the coaches. After a long huddle by the refs, they called a double tech and everyone got back to playing the game.
But the fracas seemed to finally wake up the Mustangs who trailed 32-28 at halftime, their first half-time deficit all year.
Early in the second half another senior, Mac Bedner, came off the bench to hit a pair of three-pointers. Costa’s suffocating defense – if you don’t play maniacal defense you don’t play at all for Perlmutter – began to force bad shots, and the Poly shots that had been falling in the first half were now missing.
“We were starting to wear them down,” Perlmutter said. “And our defense was causing turnovers.”
De Armas showcased his improved shooting touch in the second half.
“He’s our second leading scorer, averaging around 12 a game, and he’s leading the team in steals,” Perlmutter said. “But you have to remember those averages are low because we’re had so many blowouts that the starters are out of the game long before it’s over.”
Perlmutter also cited Bednar for his 3-point shooting off the bench – that was the spark that triggered the second half comeback against Riverside Poly – and 6-foot-8 center Luke Hammerschmidt for his work on the offensive boards.
By the start of the fourth quarter Mira Costa had restored order, and won the game going away 61-49.
Their 11th straight win was one more step to making history for the Mustangs. No Mira Costa boys basketball team had ever started a season 13-0. They beat Salesian two nights later by a score of 93-49, thereby giving themselves a chance to make school history against Wiseburn-Da Vinci Saturday, December 21.
All this winning was what Perlmutter was hired to do seven years ago: put Costa on the same level as the school’s football and volleyball and water polo programs as a consistent title contender.
He’s already won two Bay League titles, but now that Redondo is back to consistently winning under Coach Reggie Morris – back for his second stint – there’s a big obstacle in his path. Redondo won the Bay League last year, and is the favorite to do so again with a team loaded with transfers lured by the chance to play for an elite program.
The two teams will play twice this year, with the first game scheduled for January 17 at Mira Costa.
“It should be a great game,” Perlmutter said. “So far, we’re undefeated and so is Redondo too. It’s going to be hard fought.”
Costa girls led by sophomore superstar
While the Mustang boys are undefeated with almost half the season gone, the Mira Costa girls basketball team is doing almost as well, with a 9-3 record and finals appearances in all three tournaments they have played
Kylee Yeh, the superstar point guard who was a sensation as a freshman last year, is even better this year. She has grown to 5-foot-9 and is a better shooter, stronger driver and better floor general on the court.
“Kylee is incredible,” said Mira Costa girls basketball coach Jeff Herdman. “She’s averaging 23 points a game this year. She’s one of the top point guards in the state.”
While the team made it to the finals of all three tournaments they entered, all three resulted in losses primarily because they do not have a single player who is even 6-foot, much less the 6-foot-2 and 6-foot-3 dominant post players that most other elite teams have.
“We struggle on the boards,” Herdman said. “That’s been our biggest problem this year.”
But help is on the way.
“We have a transfer named Jada Martin who will become eligible soon,” Herdman said. “She’s a great rebounder, and she will be our center.”
She very well could be the missing piece that turns a very good team into a great team.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. ER
