Breakers start season strong

Two games into the Charlie Wilkins Memorial Tournament earlier in the week, the Laguna Beach High boys’ basketball team had two double-digit victories to its credit.

In its second outing in two days at Westminster High, Laguna began to pull away from Huntington Beach in the second quarter of Tuesday’s matchup, gained a comfortable advantage in the fourth quarter after the Oilers had sliced into the Breakers’ lead, and went on to take a 58-48 victory in pool-play action.

The win put the Breakers at 7-2 overall. They closed out pool play with a Thursday game against La Palma Kennedy. The score wasn’t available at press time.

Laguna’s final tournament game, either in the tourney final or otherwise, will be Saturday.

“We came into the game with Huntington with two things that would be keys for us,” Laguna Coach Bret Fleming said. “One was to keep them off the offensive boards, and the other, was to not turn the ball over due to their pressure. I thought we did a pretty good job in both of those areas.”

Both teams got off to a somewhat sloppy start but Laguna took the lead for good when senior guard Darin Richardson drained a three-point shot from the corner to put the Breakers up, 18-15. It triggered a 9-0 run that included two Isaac Wulff baskets the first coming on a layup, followed by a steal and driving lay-in.

Huntington junior guard Noah Gonzalez, who hit seven three-point shots Dec. 11 in a 90-70 win over Ocean View, hit a free throw to end Laguna’s scoring spurt and a 3:47 scoreless drought for the Oilers.

When sophomore forward Blake Burzell scored on a put-back with a minute left in the half, his first basket, it gave the Breakers their first double-digit lead (26-16) of the ballgame.

Laguna would go on to take a 39-28 lead into halftime, with Richardson leading the scoring with 13 points and Wulff contributing eight points.

The Breakers extended the lead to 43-31 through three quarters.

“I thought we played real well in the second quarter,” Fleming said. “We maintained the lead and did a good job withstanding their comeback attempt.”

Huntington (4-5), which opened the tournament with a 70-58 win Tuesday over Kennedy, hit a pair of three-pointers to open the fourth quarter and draw to within 43-37 with seven minutes left. The Breakers, however, again responded.

Burzell hit a driving bank shot, Wulff a driving layup, Burzell came up with a block on the defensive end that led to a driving layup by Richardson, and the Breakers were off and running toward an 11-0 scoring spurt. Following a Huntington turnover, Wulff canned a three-pointer from the left corner, Burzell then scored on a lay-in off a feed from senior center Nick Rahder and within a two-minute stretch of the quarter, the Breakers had achieved their largest lead and command of the game, 54-37, with 4:34 to go.

They would lead by no fewer than the 10-point final margin.

Richardson, who hit four three-pointers, led all scorers with 23 points. Wulff had 17 points and Burzell 12 points.

Gonzalez was held to a pair of three-pointers and 13 points.

“Isaac [Wulff] has really been coming around and has really played well in the last few games, and Darin [Richardson] has been somewhat up and down but when he gets going, he’s difficult to guard. He had a real nice game [Wednesday].”

The Breakers and Oilers will meet again at 5 p.m. Monday when they square off in an Orange County North/South Challenge game at El Toro High.

In its tournament opener Tuesday, Laguna raced to a 33-9 halftime lead on host Westminster and went on to rout the Lions, 72-45. Burzell hit a trio of three-pointers and Richardson canned two treys, and the pair tied for team scoring honors with 18 points apiece. Junior guard Karam Jones finished with 13 points and Wulff (two three-pointers) had 12 points.

“Good team basketball, balanced scoring,” is how Fleming described the performance. “[Senior guard Spencer] Wong did a great job defensively, and Wulff did a great job of passing to guys for easy scores.”

Laguna was on the road Dec. 11 for a nonleague game at Irvine, and cruised past the host Vaqueros, 63-39. Another quick start, the one, resulting in a 17-5 lead after one quarter, set the Breakers in motion. They took complete control by outscoring the Vaqueros, 25-6 in the third quarter, to take a 56-37 lead into the final quarter.

Burzell led the scoring with 22 points and senior center Nick Rahder had 17 points.

“I thought we played really well defensively, particularly Rahder and [sophomore forward Adam] Armstrong stopping their screen/roll game,” Fleming said.

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Girls’ Basketball

Playing their first home game of the season, the Breakers gave the home fans a victory as they defeated Laguna Hills, 48-33, in a nonleague game at Dugger Gym.

Laguna (4-5) extended its defensive pressure in the second quarter and created turnovers and offensive opportunities that allowed the Breakers to open up a double-digit lead.

Laguna Hills hit from three-point range early in the second half to get to within nine points and three minutes into the half, the Breakers lost junior guard Jackie Cenan to fouls. Already working with a short bench — six Breakers played in a junior varsity game prior to the varsity matchup, the Breakers received solid support from their bench and were able to build the lead back to double digits.

Senior forward Alexandra Lewis paced the Breakers with 19 points, hitting four three-point shots and keyed the first-half run that allowed the Breakers to extend their lead. Junior guard Rachel Kenney (seven points) and senior guard Amy Nygaard (two points) hit key outside shots to maintain the lead, and Nicole Davidson (six points) got past defenders to get to the basket and land free-throw opportunities that helped seal the win.

Cenan left in the third quarter with 12 points, and sophomore guard Jasmine Banks scored two points.

“It was good to get back on the winning track, especially in our home opener,” Laguna Coach Mark Lewis said. “We had a decent crowd that included the school band and drum line, which was greatly appreciated by the team.”

Laguna completed play Saturday at the Ocean View Hawk Holiday Classic and lost to Irvine, 61-29. Alexandra Lewis hit three three-pointers and had 11 points, Banks (two three-pointers) scored seven points, Nygaard hit one three-pointer, senior forward Elise Pontius and junior forward Marissa Lee had two points each, and Cenan, who left the game with an ankle sprain early in the second quarter, scored four points.

The Breakers, who went 1-3 in the event, were without starting point guard Nicole Davidson in the tourney finale.

Lewis and Cenan made the all-tournament team.

“Coming off of some very good play in the Corona del Mar tournament the week before, I thought we were a bit flat this entire tournament,” Mark Lewis said. “We didn’t play with the same fire and competitive spirit that we did the week before. We’re looking to hopefully get things back on track this week with more inspired play.”

The Breakers leave Friday for Catalina and will play a 2:30 p.m. nonleague game Saturday against the Avalon Lancers.

“Not only will it be fun to play a game against Avalon, but the trip and the overnight should be good fun and a time for some team bonding,” Lewis said.

Next Monday, the Breakers will battle Fullerton Sunny Hills at 1:30 p.m. in an Orange County North/South Challenge game at Mission Viejo High.

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CIF Weekly Basketball Rankings

(first poll of season; released Monday)

Division 4AA: Laguna Beach, No. 12.