Laguna Beach Wins Despite Its Slow Start

Laguna Beach high School rolled past cold-shooting L.A. Baptist, 51-31, in a second-round 2-A playoff game Friday night at Laguna Beach.

L.A. Baptist (9-15) scored only two field goals in the first half but made 11 of 12 free throws to trail at halftime, 22-15. The Artists outscored L.A. Baptist, 29-16, in the second half to win going away.

Laguna Beach (20-5) failed to take advantage of L.A. Baptist’s zone defense in the first half, according to Coach Ed Bowen.

“We weren’t really playing very hard the first half,” Bowen said. “I had to really shout at halftime and get mad (L.A. Baptist) wasn’t really trying t win, they were just trying to keep the score down, and that frustrated our guys.”

The Artists’ John Borella led all scorers with 13, Dain Blanton had 12 and John Trevino had 10. For L.A. Baptist, Glen Dodson had 11 and John Patton had five.