IRVINE WORLD NEWS TOURNAMENT : Woodbridge Uses Success at the Line to Knock Off Irvine

Irvine’s reign as the best boys’ basketball team in the city ended Friday night in the semifinals of the Irvine World News Tournament.

Woodbridge made 16 of 19 free-throw attempts in the fourth quarter to earn a 56-45 victory at Woodbridge and advance to the championship game of the 16-team tournament for the first time since 1987.

Woodbridge (6-1) will play Edison (5-2) in the title game a 7 tonight at Christ College Irvine. Edison advanced to the final with a 65-45 victory over Kennedy.

Irvine (8-2) had won nine consecutive games against city rivals University and Woodbridge, including a 60-52 victory over Woodbridge last week, but the county’s third-ranked team fell behind, 34-25, with 2:35 remaining in the first half and never recovered.

Woodbridge reserve guard Shea Stone made a three-point shot that gave Woodbridge the nine-point lead it maintained through most of the second half. Then the Warriors finished off Irvine in the last quarter with free throws.

Guard Todd Lowe, who led Woodbridge with 12 points, made eight consecutive free throws in the last quarter, and teammate Matt Murphy added four more in the final two minutes.

“It was no mystery, they were a lot more focused tonight than they were last week (in a 60-52 loss), and we played poorly,” Irvine Coach Steve Keith said. “We missed a lot of shots early (nine of 27 through three quarters) and they hit the free throws at the end.”

Woodbridge Coach Bill Shannon utilized four and sometimes five guards at the same time to ensure more quickness and help with pressing tactics, and it paid off. Irvine committed 14 turnovers.

The game was very physical with the first half and nearly blew up in the third quarter when Woodbridge’s Ethan Twer and Irvine’s Brian Boothroyd tangled under the Woodbridge basket and had to be separated.

“It was a physical game, which may have been to their advantage because they’re so much bigger than we are,” Shannon said. “The biggest change tonight was that we pressed more and put a lot more pressure on the ball.”

In the other semifinal:

Edison 65, Kennedy 45--Brandon Jessie scored 28 points, including two three-pointers, and had 16 rebounds for Edison. Teammate Todd Harrell scored 11 points and had five assists. Jermaine Galloway scored 25 points and had eight rebounds and five blocked shots for Kennedy (3-3).

In the consolation round:

Palos Verdes Peninsula 82, University 73--A bench-clearing brawl erupted with 5:23 remaining in the third quarter after Peninsula guard Frank White fouled University’s Josh Whelihan as Whelihan was attempting a shot.

Whelihan and White began pushing each other, and the benches cleared. When order was finally restored, Whelihan and White were assessed technical fouls, and Donnell Dowdy of University and Fritz Marohn of Peninsula were ejected for fighting off the court while officials were trying to restore order on it.

Peninsula Coach John Mihaljevich was also assessed a technical foul.

Laguna Beach 65, San Clemente 57--This was a rematch of last week’s game, also won by Laguna Beach (4-2). Forward Brad Berberian, who led all scorers with 30 points, made a three-point play with 1:01 remaining to seal the victory for Laguna Beach. San Clemente is 4-5.