PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Trabuco Hills Tops Laguna Beach

The Smurfs almost knocked off a giant Friday night.

Laguna Beach’s boys’ basketball team--without a starter taller than 6-feet-3--went toe to toe with Trabuco Hills, led by 6-10 center Gavin Vanderputten. In the end, Trabuco Hills’ big guys had enough--barely--to hold off the little guys, 74-65, at Laguna Beach.

Vanderputten had a game-high 28 points, almost all from less than five feet from the basket, and 14 rebounds.

Trigg Garner, Laguna Beach’s 6-3 center, hustled for better position against Vanderputten when he could. And when that didn’t work, he simply leaned on him a little. Garner had a little help from forwards Eric Fegraus and Brad Berberian, who helped surround Vanderputten.

It was Laguna Beach’s best chance at pulling off an upset, and for most of the game it kept the Artists (11-6, 1-2 in the Pacific Coast League) close.

It didn’t hurt that Laguna Beach guard Darren Gravley had four three-point baskets and a team-high 24 points. But the lack of a strong inside game against Vanderputten, Corey Klinke (6-7) and Pat Barnes (6-4) was too much for Laguna Beach to overcome.

“This was a great win,” Trabuco Hills Coach Rainer Wulf said. “We always have a tough time when we come down here.”

Trabuco Hills came out fired up after reading a column in a Laguna Beach newspaper that raised the question of how good the Mustangs would be without Vanderputten, an exchange student from Perth, Australia.

It nearly backfired. The Mustangs got in early foul trouble and when starting point guard Brett Poulos went down with a sprained ankle in the second quarter, it looked as if they might be in for a long night of chasing Laguna Beach’s quicker players.

But Trabuco Hills managed a 32-21 halftime lead.

The lead changed hands throughout the second half before Trabuco Hills pulled away in the final six minutes. The Mustangs led, 56-54, when they began passing the ball inside to their big guys on each possession.

Klinke and Vanderputten accounted for the most damage. Klinke had eight of his 12 points in the final 4:49. And Vanderputten had a three-point play that started Trabuco Hills on an 18-11 run to end the game.

Trabuco Hills (13-5, 3-0) made eight of 12 free throws in the final quarter.

“We learned some things about composure and keeping your cool tonight,” Wulf said. “And we also learned how to play against a tough, scrappy team.”

In other league games:

Century 52, Costa Mesa 35--Darvin Thompson, a junior forward, scored 12 points to lead Century (13-4, 2-1) at Costa Mesa. Jason Amorde scored 16 points for Costa Mesa.

Estancia 53, Laguna Hills 46--Jim Faulkner scored 16 points, and Joe Edson added 12--all on three-pointers--for visiting Estancia, which led, 14-5, by the end of the first quarter. Aaron Cook scored 12 points and Jon Colton had 11 for Laguna Hills (6-9, 0-3).