Pacific Coast League : Trabuco Hills Has the Title to Itself, 81-74

Rick Swanwick scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, and Chad Poulos added 23 points to help Trabuco Hills High School clinch its first Pacific Coast League boys’ basketball championship with an 81-74 victory over Laguna Hills Wednesday at Trabuco Hills.

Swanwick, who also blocked five shots, scored 16 of his points in the first half as Trabuco Hills (17-5 overall, 9-0 in the league) built a 48-34 halftime lead.

Swanwick scored 13 points in the fourth quarter to hold off a late Laguna Hills rally.

The loss left Laguna Hills (14-9, 6-3) tied for second place with Woodbridge with one game to play.

“We took a couple of questionable shots at the end, and Laguna Hills came back with some three-point shots to close the gap,” said Trabuco Hills Coach Rainer Wulf, whose team led by as much as 19 points twice in the third quarter.

Poulos, who made two three-point baskets in the first period, made one more with four minutes left in the second quarter to give Trabuco Hills a 36-21 lead. Trabuco Hills led by as much as 16 points three times in the last minutes of the half before Chris Sheff made an inside jumper with three seconds left to narrow the Mustang lead to 48-34 as the halftime buzzer sounded.

Sheff scored 11 of his 15 points in the first half. Beau Hossler, who scored nine points in the fourth quarter, wound up with 19 points to lead the Hawks.

Laguna Beach 56, Woodbridge 51 (OT)--Woodbridge’s Tom Shanklin hit a three-point shot with 7 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the score at 44-44. In overtime, Dain Blanton and Pat Quigley each made four free throws as Laguna Beach outscored Woodbridge, 12-7. John Travino added 14 for Laguna Beach (9-13, 3-6). Woodbridge (8-11, 6-3) was led by Joey Cohen with 15 points.

Costa Mesa 65, Orange 56--Young Chang scored 20 points and Bret Dieball added 18 to lead host Costa Mesa (4-17, 2-7). Rob Salinger led Orange (3-16, 1-8) with 12.