Myar Back on Bench, but Mustangs Lose Again

Mira Costa High Coach Henry Myar was back on the bench on Tuesday after a one-game absence, but his return wasn’t enough to prevent visiting Leuzinger from registering a 59-52 league victory over the Mustangs.

Myar missed Friday’s contest against rival Redondo Union because the coach refused to attend, Mira Costa Principal Ben Dale said. His decision came during a discussion between Myar and Dale last week about the future of the program, Dale said.

“It was a miscommunication and as a result I did not attend the game on Friday,” Myar said.

Myar said the “miscommunication” occurred between him and school administrators, and that he will remain as coach for the rest of the season. When told that Dale said it was Myar’s decision not to attend the Redondo game, the coach didn’t dispute that. But when pressed for details of his absence and how it appears to conflict with Dale’s comments, Myar said he couldn’t comment.

One source said Myar has been instructed by school officials to remain mum about the situation in hopes the controversy dies down. Even the players have been told not to discuss it, though it’s clear several of them have been troubled with the situation since it surfaced.

On Tuesday, it was the Olympians' (13-6, 2-1) turn to make the Mustangs uncomfortable. They used the long ball to do so, hitting nine 3-pointer to Mira Costa's three.

The Mustangs (8-11, 1-2) trailed throughout and each time they would make a run, the Olympians thwarted it with timely 3-pointers, some of them by Marshawn McMahan, who was scorching the nets from at least 25 feet.

“Marshawn was hitting from all over the floor, some of them from 30 feet,” said Mira Costa's Thomas Johnson, who also played well, finishing with 14 points, 14 rebounds and four blocked shots. “He’s a very good player.”

McMahan, who finished with 19 points, including 3 three-pointers, and Eric Childress, who had a game-high 26 points, delivered the most damage, combining for seven of the team’s threes.

“How do you tell a player to (defend) at 30 feet and get a hand up?” Myar said, referring to McMahan. “That’s a hard thing to defend. We knew about them shooting three’s and we knew they shot a lot of them, but my Lord.”

Johnson and Elliott Ozer, who led Mira Costa with 21 points and grabbed seven rebounds, tried to play saviors for the Mustangs, but they couldn’t bear it. Johnson gave them an opportunity by closing the Olympians’ lead to 50-47 after converting a three-point play with 2:12 remaining, but McMahan answered by scoring on a beautiful spin move in the lane. Childress added another basket by converting a steal into a layup to put Leuzinger up 54-47 with 1:08 to play.

Tom Farrell hit a floater to close the gap to five with 40 seconds remaining and the Mustangs regained possession after a Leuzinger turnover, but they threw the ball away with 27 seconds left, sealing it for Leuzinger.

Johnson said the outcome could have been different had the Mustangs kept their composure.

“If we hadn’t rushed things like we did toward the end, like taking our time to get a better shot, we might have had a better chance,” Johnson said. “But that’s stuff we have to learn.”