Boys basketball: CdM wins fourth in a row

Tony Altobelli

WESTMINSTER - In a game of spurts and streaks, Corona del Mar

High’s boys basketball had the last push and the end result was a 58-52

win over Loara Thursday night in the second day of pool play competition

at the La Quinta Tournament.

“We’re getting there,” Sea Kings Coach Paul Orris said. “We’ve had a

different guy step up each night to help us pull it out. Our goal is to

get everyone to step it up a notch.”

After losing a 13-point lead in the third quarter and trailing, 44-42,

in the fourth, the Sea Kings outscored the Saxons, 16-4, during a

five-minute span to open up a 10-point lead with just over a minute

remaining for the win.

Thursday’s spark was senior Joel Templeton, who not only scored five

of his 10 points late in the fourth quarter, but also led the emotional

charge for the Sea Kings down the stretch.

“Joel not only gave us some quality minutes off the bench, but he

really played with some fire and intensity,” Orris said. “This game is

played with or without confidence and tonight, Joel really had the

confidence.”

The Sea Kings (4-0) got a first-hand opportunity to work on playing in

the face of serious defensive pressure from the Saxons, who used a

swarming double-team style whenever possible.

“That was the first time we had to deal with double teams and we lost

some of our composure early,” Orris said. “But I was proud of the guys

for hanging in there and finding the open guy when available.”

The Saxons took advantage of CdM’s lack of experience with pressure

defense and opened up a 16-10 first-quarter lead, forcing the Sea Kings

into six turnovers.

“We were getting beat on transition early,” Orris said. “We made some

adjustments and we were able to take better control of the ball.”

A couple of quick three-pointers by Alec Hanson brought CdM back into

the game and from there, the Sea Kings started to limit their turnovers

and found the weak-side player open for easy baskets.

“When a team doubles you like they were doing, we really tried to make

that extra pass to find the open guy and it started to work for us,”

Orris said.

The Sea Kings took a 27-26 lead into the dressing room at halftime

thanks to 6 of 8 shooting from the field, including 3 for 3 from

three-point range.

Eric Snell scored six of his team-high 13 points for the Sea Kings in

the third quarter as CdM opened up a 42-29 lead with a 15-3 run in the

opening four minutes of the third quarter.

Loara answered that run with an 11-0 run to close out the third

quarter trailing only 42-40, led by Wes Wardrop, who finished the game

with 24 points.

After the Saxons scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to

lead by two.

After the Sea Kings’ run to lead by 10 with 1:30 remaining, three

straight turnovers made the final ticks a little heart-stopping for

Orris, but the Saxons went 0 for 4 from the three-point line down the

stretch and could not take advantage..

“They’re never easy, that’s for sure,” Orris said with a smile.

Next up for the Sea Kings is Lakewood tonight at 8:15 in day three of

pool-play competition at the La Quinta Tournament.

LA QUINTA TOURNAMENT

Pool play

Corona del Mar 58, Loara 52

Loara 16 10 14 12 - 52

Corona del Mar 10 17 15 16 - 58

Loara - Wardrop 24, Brennan 4, Brown 2, VonAcher 6, Roberson 8,

Santana 2, Moses 6.

3 pt. goals - Wardrop 1.

Fouled out - none.

Corona del Mar - Shahangian 2, Patterson 4, Morris 11, Snell 13,

Hietbrink 8, Templeton 10, Hanson 10.

3 pt. goals - Hanson 2, Snell 1, Morris 1.

Fouled out - none.