ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL : Sea View League : Naess Scores 29 Points to Lead Laguna Beach Win Over Saddleback

Quick question: Who’s the hottest basketball player in Orange County? Answer: Coby Naess of Laguna Beach High School.

Naess, a 6-foot 6-inch senior, scored 29 points and had 18 rebounds Wednesday night to lead the Artists to an exciting 73-69 victory over Saddleback in Sea View League play.

Naess has totaled 88 points and 37 rebounds in his last three games as the Artists have won three straight. He’s averaging 23.6 points a game.

Naess made all the big plays against Saddleback and helped the surprising Artists improve to 3-1 in the eight-team league. It looks as if it’s going to be another disappointing season for Saddleback after the Roadrunners slipped to 1-3.

Last season, Saddleback failed to reach the 4-A division playoffs despite the fact it had three Division I players in its starting lineup. Guard Bryant Walton is the holdover from last season, but even his presence wasn’t good enough for the Roadrunners on Wednesday night.

Walton, the only player in the county listed among the leaders in scoring, rebounding, assists and field goal percentage, finished with 16 points. He had 10 points in the last quarter by making five consecutive shots.

But for three quarters, Walton’s teammates forgot they have a major talent. They rarely threw him a pass as the sharpshooter had only seven field goal attempts and six points in three quarters of play.

Laguna Beach guard Doug Lawler did a good job of denying Walton the ball at times as Artist Coach Ed Bowen elected to go with a box-and-one defense in an effort to contain Walton. It was a smart move.

“I told the players all week that we had to hold Walton to 20 points in order to win,” Bowen said. “Our goal was to keep him at 20 and (center) Joe Deal to 10. I thought we did a good job defensively.” Deal surpassed Bowen’s goal by six points.

The game was tied seven times in the last quarter as Walton and Naess traded baskets. But Walton missed his last four shots, and Laguna Beach made 12 of 17 free-throw attempts in the last quarter to gain the win. Naess’ two free throws with eight seconds remaining was the clincher.

Naess made 11 of 20 field goal attempts on a variety of shots from both the low and high post. He was 7 of 10 at the free-throw line. Teammate Scott Herdman added 23 points, most of them coming on baseline jump shots.

“If I would have had this team for four years, we’d be tougher than alley cats,” said Bowen, who returned to coaching this season after a long absence. “We just don’t know how to win the close ones.

“We should have won this game five times, but it came right down to the wire because we missed some easy shots and free throws. But this team can give anyone in the league problems.”

In other league action:

Corona del Mar 52, University 49--The Trojans held the county’s leading scorer, Jeff Fryer, to 10 points below his season average of 29.5 points per game, but it wasn’t enough to slow down league-leading Corona del Mar. The Sea Kings are the only undefeated team in the league with a 4-0 record and are 14-2 overall.

Estancia 57, Newport Harbor 52--Senior center Craig Covey scored 13 points and had 11 rebounds as the Eagles upset Newport Harbor. Junior forward Brian Tift added 12 points and 4 assists for the winners. Maurice Lee paced the Sailors with 12 points. Both teams are 2-2 in league play.

Woodbridge 66, Costa Mesa 31--The Warriors kept pace with Estancia and Newport Harbor at 2-2 in league play as sophomore forward Adam Keefe scored 21 points. Costa Mesa’s high-scoring forward, Mitch Pelichowski, was sick and did not play.