PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE : Laguna Hills Turns On Defense in Fourth Quarter to Beat Trabuco Hills

Gil Kim, Mike Lugo and Doug Schellenberg don’t get a lot of attention on the Laguna Hills High School basketball team. They generally remain in the background as a support group.

Considering the Hawks have a couple guys who have 20-point scoring averages, there’s not a lot of support needed. But, on Wednesday, it became role-player night.

Kim, Lugo and Schellenberg provided some much-needed defense. In the fourth quarter, they pressured Trabuco Hills right out of a second-place tie.

The Hawks scored 28 points in the fourth quarter to run away with a 77-61 victory at Laguna Hills, leaving them in sole possession of second place in the Pacific Coast league.

Brian Matsen and Paul La Mott had their usual nights on offense for Laguna Hills. Matsen had 23 points and La Mott 14, despite being in foul trouble most of the game.

But their teammates’ defensive efforts proved crucial. Lugo and Schellenberg, who are reserve guards, and Kim, a forward, forced the Mustangs into mistake after mistake in the fourth quarter.

“Those guys really go unnoticed every night,” Laguna Hills Coach Dave Brown said. “But they really stepped up tonight. They made the difference.”

Laguna Hills (12-8, 5-2) was content to play pickup basketball most of the game. There were some cherry-pick layups and plenty of shoot-before-looking jumpers.

But there was precious little defense--until the fourth quarter.

The Hawks led, 49-46, through three quarters, but pressured every shot in the last six minutes. As a result, Mustang guards Ryan Holland (5-foot-7) and Brett Poulos (5-4) were overwhelmed.

At one point, Laguna Hills forced five consecutive turnovers, including two steals by Kim and one each by Lugo and Schellenberg. That sparked a 12-2 run, giving the Hawks a 73-58 lead.

Trabuco Hills committed 10 turnovers in the fourth quarter and 24 for the game. The Hawks turned most of the errors into points.

“We wanted to pressure them like that from the start, but we got into early foul trouble,” Brown said. “We had to go to a zone to protect some people. But in the last five minutes we let those guys loose.”

Schellenberg scored 12 points, Lugo eight and Kim six. But, on Wednesday, it was their defense that mattered.

In other league games:

Estancia 66, Century 33--Mike Haas scored 20 points and Matt Fuerbringer 13 for host Estancia.

Laguna Beach 104, Costa Mesa 75--Tom Ravensburg scored 25 points, including seven three-point field goals, to lead Laguna Beach (13-9, 4-3).