Laguna Beach Catches El Segundo in Its Press

It took 27 years, but Laguna Beach High School basketball Coach Ed Bowen finally got his chance to press the issue with El Segundo.

And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Laguna Beach’s man-to-man press forced six turnovers late in the first half as the Artists cruised to a 67-55 victory Friday night in the 2-A semifinals at Rolling Hills High School.

The Artists (22-5) will play St. Joseph, a 71-67 overtime winner over Valley Christian in Friday’s other semifinal, in Saturday’s championship game at 9:30 a.m. at the Sports Arena. It will be their first appearance in the 2-A championship since 1963, nearly a decade before any of the current players were born.

Bowen, who also coached the 1963 team, remembers that championship game well.

“We had a 13-point lead on El Segundo and they pressed us and wound up beating me, 63-62,” he said. “We didn’t have anyone who could handle the ball.”

The roles were reversed this year.

With the Artists clinging to a 20-16 lead with 4:12 left in the half, Bowen switched from a zone to a man-to-man press.

The result? Six El Segundo turnovers, an 11-4 Laguna Beach run and a 31-19 halftime lead.

“We knew the press would bug the hell out of them,” Bowen said. “We knew coming in that they would have all kinds of trouble.”

El Segundo Coach Rick Sabosky agreed.

“We even turned over the ball when we weren’t pressed,” he said. “It was frustrating to start off like that.”

The six consecutive turnovers only added to El Segundo’s frustration in the first half.

The Eagles had nearly as many turnovers (15) as points (19) at halftime, and they made only six of their first 19 shots and never led.

Meanwhile, Laguna Beach scored nearly at will.

John Trevino’s three-pointers arched like rainbows over El Segundo’s 1-3-1 zone defense. Dain Blanton, who scored 24 points and had 12 rebounds, made layup after layup.

“We ran our overload offense against them,” Bowen said. “We shot outside well early and that really helped us.

“Trevino played one of his better games and Dain played real well, under control.”

Blanton, a 6-foot-4 senior, made nine of 15 shots from the field and six of eight free throws.

“I would say this is one of my best games,” he said. “And we didn’t lose it in the end.”

El Segundo’s only threat the entire game came from center Ken Talanoa, who finished with a game-high 26 points and 12 rebounds.