Mustangs’ new coach wants players to adapt

Up and down has been Costa Mesa High’s brand of basketball.

It will be again this year for the boys, but probably in regards to its season.

The Mustangs lost their entire starting five and their coach Jeff McDaniel after running and gunning. The play got them third place in the Orange Coast League and a trip to the CIF Southern Section Division III-A playoffs.

It might happen again.

Coach Kevin Palmer still hasn’t figured out his starting lineup, but he’s confident Costa Mesa has a chance to compete once the players adapt to his style of man-to-man defense and up-tempo offense.

So far he’s given practically everyone a chance on a team with four returnees. He’s started all seniors and even juniors in separate games already. If there were four more sophomores, they’d get their chance to start together, too.

“They’re learning. I’m learning,” said Palmer, a longtime girls’ coach with stints at Wilson of Hacienda Heights, Bellflower and Beckman. “When they put in the hard work and get in shape, maybe we’ll put this together sooner. We’re getting one solid quarter, then two in a game, and we’ve gotten three. But we need four solid quarters. Right now they’re running out of gas.”

Now that’s been a rarity in recent years at Costa Mesa, which went 17-11 last year.

The team has gone nine players deep in recent years, but there have always been a couple of quality players. The Mustangs lost two of those in first-team all-league picks, forward Larry Puente and shooting guard Moses Titus.

Puente was the most versatile player in the Newport-Mesa area last year. The 6-foot-4 star averaged 19.5 points, 13.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 3.3 blocks and 2.4 steals per game. Titus torched the opposition with 71 three-pointers, and he averaged 13.7 points and 2.6 steals per game.

With their biggest player and best shooter having graduated, the Mustangs will need to be more of a team. Palmer said no one stands out as of yet, with junior Mikey Molina being the lone returnee receiving a lot of minutes on last year’s team.

Other returning players include senior forward Andy Dawson and senior guards Andrew Millian and Adam Gardner.

Molina was slated to run the offense at point guard. But with the responsibility to score, defend and distribute the ball has proved too much early on.

“He’s a playmaker and it wouldn’t be good for the team because he does so much already,” Palmer said for moving Molina to shooting guard and inserting newcomer sophomore Brian Waldron at point guard.

Palmer said Waldron showed spurts of a true point the first time he received minutes. But once the starting quarterback of the football team began thinking on the court, things got messy.

“I told him, ‘I don’t want you to come into the game thinking, just play, because when you think too much you’re bound to make mistakes,’ ” Palmer said. “I’m not worried about us. I’ve got a deep team. I’ve got 12 guys I can play. Sometimes they’ll get two or three minute breathers, or I’ll go with five at a time. I have to play with the lineup that meshes well together and gives us the best chance to win. That can change game to game.”

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].