IRVINE – Cooper Stearns has had some great performances, but he had never had a quarter quite like the one on Wednesday.
Given the circumstances, the pressure, the attention, the Stanford-bound golfer scored deep, scored inside, and basically scored at will.
Sixteen of his 31 points came in the first quarter as the Vaqueros scored a 62-42 victory over Bishop Amat in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 2A playoffs.
“It was really impressive,” Irvine coach Harry Meussner said. “The honest truth is Cooper is too good to be guarded one on one, and he’s too good to be doubled. He’s seen it all. His sophomore year, he started getting double-, triple-teamed, beat up on, and he worked on his fitness, his physical and his mental.
“Today was one of those games where he set the tone early, was aggressive, and forced the issue, and came out hitting shots – and that was a big lift for us.”
It was a showcase for Stearns, who also had 12 rebounds, and a defense that held Bishop Amat to 22 points fewer than its average.
It is the second playoff victory for Irvine (27-2) in 16 years – their first was last season. They will get a stiff test Friday against third-seeded Pasadena in a second-round game at Irvine High.
Irvine lived up to Amat coach Brandon Ertle’s expectation.
“We knew they were good, but they’re really, really good,” he said. “They’re good at sharing the ball and they did a great job on defense. It’s tough that somebody has to lose.”
On this night, Bishop Amat (23-6) felt the sting of a season ending. The Lancers got their typical 19 points from freshman Aiden Shaw, and nine apiece from Rayshaun White and Eli Chavez, five and four points lower, respectively, than their season averages.
But on the other other side, it was Stearns who flexed his muscles. A minute into the game, he hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key, and another one 45 seconds later. Then he started doing his typical damage inside. He scored Irvine’s first 12 points as it took a 12-2 lead at 3 minutes 31 seconds.
The Vaqueros basically carried that lead the rest of the way. They closed the first quarter up 20-7, then watched a 4:29 dry spell shrink the advantage to 28-21 at halftime.
“I haven’t had a bigger quarter than that, ever,” Stearns said. “I had 17 once, but in a playoff game? I never would have expected to be able to go out and score that many points. It was really cool because my teammates had full faith in me to attack and score. I think it’s the biggest quarter of my career and I don’t know if one will ever get bigger than that. It was a lot of fun.
“My teammates spaced the floor really well, played phenomenal defense, and rebounded really well – we held them to seven points in the first quarter – so I don’t think it was all on me.”
A couple of big plays by Jalen Yim and Ali Dal – sandwiched around free throws by Stearns – jumped the lead to 35-21 before Amat clawed back to 43-34 with 6:52 left in the game.
After going the last 4 1 / 2 minutes of the first half without a basket, the 3-pointer by Yim coming out of the break was huge.
Then sophomore Holden Stearns asserted himself, scoring from 21 feet and following with a drive to the basket for a 48-34 margin. Cooper Stearns scored on a couple of power moves to make it 52-38, and when Amat’s Shaw fouled out with 2:47 to go, the score was 56-38 and the outcome was in the bag.
Holden Stearns finished with nine points, Dal eight and Yim six. Nineteen of their 23 combined points came in the second half.
“When we’re able to get our offense going,” Cooper Stearns said, “we’re a really deadly team.”
