SEA VIEW LEAGUE ROUNDUP : Woodbridge’s Hopes End With Loss
Woodbridge figured it could tie Tustin for the Sea View League championship with a victory over Saddleback and some help from Newport Harbor Friday night.
Saddleback, shooting 54% from the floor, blunted those hopes, however, as the Roadrunners ran up a 19-point, fourth-quarter lead and hung on for a 73-65 victory at Saddleback High School to leave Tustin, which beat Newport Harbor, as league champion and Woodbridge in second place.
Smarting from a 71-48 loss to the Warriors in the first round, Saddleback (14-10, 6-4 in league) appeared to be the team on a quest for a championship, as the Roadrunners dominated the first 29 minutes of the game before Woodbridge (16-6, 7-3) mounted a last-ditch rally.
The Roadrunners jumped to a 16-7 first-quarter lead behind the play of Jason Register and gradually extended the margin to 65-46 with 3 minutes 17 seconds left in the game. Saddleback’s Chris Cardingal scored all 12 of his points in the fourth quarter.
“It’s hard to get a running team to slow down,” Roadrunner Coach Pat Quinn said. “We were up by a lot of points. When we tried to slow it down, we tightened up. But we hung on for the win.”
Woodbridge received a big boost in the fourth quarter after Luis Estrella was called for his second technical foul and was ejected after he was leveled by Woodbridge’s Ethan Twer. A personal foul was called on Twer, but Estrella’s comments cost him his free throws. Todd Loewe hit both the technicals and Twer scored moments later on the inbounds play and Woodbridge trailed, 65-53.
Woodbridge’s full-court trapping defense, which had been yielding easy layups to the Roadrunners most of the night, suddenly tightened up. After Arash Ghazinoor’s three free throws with 45 seconds remaining, the Warriors trailed, 69-63.
Roadrunner sophomore Chris Bradshaw hit a pair of three throws with 25 seconds left to give Saddleback a 71-63 lead, and the Roadrunners held on.
Register led all scorers with 24 points and eight rebounds and Bradshaw added 19 for the Roadrunners. Twer led Woodbridge with 21 points and Loewe added 15 points and 11 rebounds.
In other league games:
Corona del Mar 89, University 61--Five Sea Kings scored in double figures and Corona del Mar shot 54% (30-56) from the field at home. Jason Clark led Corona del Mar (10-15, 3-7) with 17 points, and Doug Hesse added 14 points and 13 rebounds. Todd Merriman had 15 points and Theo Rokos scored 13 with 10 rebounds.
Tustin 79, Newport Harbor 58--Jentry Moore scored 27 points for Tustin (9-1), which captured the league championship with the victory. Justin McIntee had 26 points and 13 rebounds for Newport Harbor (10-14, 2-8).