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Irvine boys basketball tops Northwood in 2OT thriller to win first league title since 1991

February 6, 2025

Irvine poses for a celebration shot after winning a Pacific Coast League boys basketball championship game against Northwood at Portola High School, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, in Irvine, CA. (Photo by William Liang, Contributing Photographer)

IRVINE – Eight months ago, Holden Stearns might have crawled into his shell. Might have hung his head. Might have disappeared from doing anything meaningful in the scorebook.

But that was then. The sophomore guard for Irvine’s boys basketball team has since matured, has grown into a different player, and on Wednesday he made the most meaningful contribution of his high school career in the scorebook.

Hitting every big shot when it mattered – scoring eight points in the first overtime and hitting a 3-pointer to begin the second extra period — Stearns was the most important player in Irvine’s 65-60 victory over Northwood in double overtime in the Pacific Coast League championship game at Portola High.

Irvine’s Holden Stearns (3), right, and Irvine’s Jalen Yim (1) celebrate after winning a Pacific Coast League boys basketball championship game against Northwood at Portola High School, Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, in Irvine, CA. (Photo by William Liang, Contributing Photographer)

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It is the first league title for the Vaqueros since 1991. Generations of players and students have passed through Irvine’s halls without witnessing what took place Wednesday, establishing a legacy that was 34 years in the making.

Stearns scored 19 points – 13 of them after the third quarter – and older brother Cooper Stearns scored 28 as the Vaqueros (26-2) won their 19th game in a row. Northwood dropped to 14-10 despite getting 16 points from Logan Barbee, and 14 apiece from Dane Mortenson and Justin Liu.

Cooper Stearns getting his pound of flesh was to be expected. He’s arguably the best player in the league. But Holden?

“We were not expecting him to have a game like that,” said Barbee, Northwood’s senior point guard, who hit a 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 63-60. “It was a little bit surprising but he stepped up.”

Did so in a big way. Fans didn’t get the best of both teams in the first half, particularly Irvine. The Vaqueros, who had not lost a PCL game this season, were tied at 8-8 but were trailing 20-12 with less than two minutes left in the half.

They had missed six consecutive shots and made three turnovers. They were flailing and in danger of watching their almost perfect season go kaput. It didn’t look particularly good that the decades of frustration would finally end.

Then the younger Stearns made his first basket, a 3-pointer with 1:27 left to stop the bleeding. And another 3-pointer with seven seconds remaining to pull to 22-19 at the break. It was the biggest two minutes of the game, maybe the season.

“Those two shots empowered me to go into the locker room and talk calmly,” Irvine coach Harry Meussner said, “talk about statistics, that we weren’t going to shoot (poorly) the rest of the game, that statistically we were going to get better. Just keep shooting.”

The statistics caught up with Irvine. Jalen Yim opened the second half with a 3-pointer, Cooper Stearns scored on a couple of layups and just like that, Irvine led 26-22.

“This is such a special team,” Holden Stearns said. “Every single person on this team is friends with each other. Everyone loves each other. … We are so connected. It means so much to win with my boys and my brother. This is one of the greatest memories I’m going to have with him. It’s going to be one of the last games I play with him.

“I didn’t give up,” he added. “When I was younger, anytime I was facing a challenge, I’d give up. I was playing with my bother for my school and the friends I love. Had to keep the foot on the gas.”

As recently as “eight months ago,” Holden Stearns said he would have checked out if he had so much as a single air ball, much less “the three or four I had tonight.”

“A year ago, I’d put my head down and wouldn’t shoot again, I’d mope around,” he said, crediting his faith and the confidence that coaches have instilled in him. Eighteen consecutive wins to reach this showcase didn’t hurt, either.

“For Holden, his story is that early in the season, he always was his own worst enemy, he’d get down on himself,” Meussner said. “You see what he did tonight. We coach him, but no one coached that. The kid has it in him. He conquered his mental. I knew the sky was the limit, but what a phenomenal game. This was beyond anyone’s expectations, even with high expectations for a young man like that.”

If the first half wasn’t the best of both teams, the second half was. They put on a show. This was not about who wanted to win more. It was evident until the final buzzer that both wanted it in the worst way and left everything on the court before it was stampeded by Irvine fans.

Cooper Stearns scored 11 in the third quarter as Irvine carried a 38-34 lead into the fourth.

Northwood caught the Vaqueros at 40 on Liu’s drive to the basket with 5:04 left in regulation. Taewan Kim scored inside off a nifty assist from Cooper Stearns, but Mortenson answered with a 3-pointer for a 43-42 Northwood lead.

But that would be the Timberwolves’ last lead in regulation. Holden Stearns scored in close, and Yim hit a 3 with 2:38 remaining for a 47-43 Irvine lead. But Irvine went dry. Liu drove the lane for two points, and Barbee tied the score at 47. Both teams had chances in the final seconds but fell short.

Holden Stearns scored 8 of his team’s 9 points – including two 3-pointers – in the first overtime but it wasn’t enough to shake the Timberwolves, who kept pace and took a 56-55 lead on Liu’s drive to the basket with 1:22 left. Cooper Stearns could have won it for Irvine but made only one of two free throws – the second one – with 7.9 seconds remaining to tie the score at 56-56.

The first two minutes of the second four-minute overtime period were scoreless, but one of the game’s biggest moments took place. Liu – with 14 points in the scorebook – fouled out on an offensive foul. The star of Monday’s semifinal upset of Sage Hill, Liu’s absence was too much to overcome.

“That was huge,” Holden Stearns said. “It was like, this is it. This is our opportunity.”

So he hit a 3-pointer. Then Cooper Stearns scored off a rebound. A Northwood free throw was answered by two from Cooper Stearns with 17 seconds remaining for a 63-57 lead.

Barbee made a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left but Cooper Stearns added two more free throws for a 65-60 margin.

The magic had run out on Northwood.

But the legacy was made with Irvine.

Irvine boys basketball tops Northwood in 2OT thriller to win first league title since 1991 Orange County Register

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Irvine boys basketball tops Northwood in 2OT thriller to win first league title since 1991

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