Woodbridge Victory Shows It’s Not a One-Man Team

It’s not easy to overshadow Chris Burgess on a basketball court, but his Woodbridge teammates did on Friday night.

William Stovall scored 10 of his 15 points in the first half as the Warriors built a double-digit lead en route to a 66-42 victory over El Toro in a Sea View League boys’ basketball game at El Toro High.

Stovall also played a big part on defense as he and Peter Martinelli held Fabrizio Mendiola, the county’s third-leading scorer, to six points on three-of-22 shooting from the field.

“Relying on Chris Burgess is something that got us into trouble last year,” Woodbridge Coach John Halagan said. “We became reliant on him and it’s easy to do because he’s such a fine player at the high school level.”

Burgess did have his moments, scoring 10 points in the third quarter as the Warriors increased their 11-point halftime lead to 21. He finished with a game-high 16 points and 11 rebounds.

“We understand that if we want to win this league outright and contend for a [Southern Section] title and get to the state playoffs, you have to play well as a team,” Halagan said. “But you don’t play well with four guys just standing around watching one.”

Burgess got the fourth-ranked Warriors (16-4, 6-0) started with six first-quarter points and Stovall ended the quarter with a steal and layin for a 13-8 lead.

El Toro (15-6, 2-4) narrowed the lead to 18-15 on Josh Rupprecht’s three-pointer with 4 minutes 50 seconds left in the half, but Woodbridge answered with a 10-0 run that was capped by Stovall’s second three-pointer of the quarter.

The Chargers came within 10 points on Mark Wulfemeyer’s three-point play with 6:37 left in the third quarter, but Martinelli scored off a rebound and Burgess followed with five consecutive points to give Woodbridge a 17-point lead.

In other Sea View League games:

Irvine 62, Corona del Mar 46--Scott Hanson scored 15 points and Ted Miley scored 12 points to lead Irvine (11-11, 2-4). Ryan Franke led Corona del Mar (4-18, 1-5) with 12 points.

Santa Margarita 49, Newport Harbor 46--Brad Gloger and Craig Rice each scored 12 points for Santa Margarita (14-6, 5-1), which rallied from a 30-19 halftime deficit, outscoring Newport Harbor, 20-9, in the third quarter.