Boys basketball: Sea Kings pass screen test

Barry Faulkner

COSTA MESA - When Corona del Mar High boys basketball coach Paul

Orris finally got his point across, Hoover High’s Tornadoes had a heck of

a time scoring theirs.

The Sea Kings (10-3) held the Glendale-based foe scoreless for nearly an

eight-minute span bridging the second and third quarters and cruised to a

74-57 romp in the second round of pool play Tuesday at Estancia High’s

Coast Christmas Classic.

“After the first quarter, we talked about really showing on screens (the

defender guarding the screener impeding the intended path of the player

coming off the pick),” Orris said. “We finally figured it out and that

was the ballgame.”

After a Hoover six-footer beat the first-quarter buzzer, the Tornadoes

had just two field goals the next 11:29.

Included in this offensive futility was a 21-0 CdM run. After Tornado

Kris Rubio hit a three-pointer to temporarily stop the Sea King

onslaught, CdM put together a 10-2 surge and eventually led, 68-30,

before Hoover closed strongly to disguise the damage.

Defense, however, was hardly the whole story for the Sea Kings, whose

balanced attack produced the school’s highest point total in 125 games,

dating back to the 1995 CIF playoffs.

“I liked how everybody got involved in the offense,” Orris said.

Senior Kevin Hansen led three Sea Kings in double figures with 17 points

and all 10 Sea Kings scored, the most to dent the scoring column all

season. Hansen was 8 of 11 from the field and added seven rebounds and

four assists.

Alec Hanson (six assists) and Idean Shahangian added 10 points apiece,

while Eric Snell and Elliott Patterson each chipped in nine.

Judd Hietbrink, Joel Templeton, Jose Najar, Jason Owen and Jay Bottom

also helped the winners shoot 63.3% from the field (31 of 49). The

starters hit 20 of 30 field-goal attempts (67%).

The Sea Kings finish out pool play tonight at 5:50 against Marina. If

victorious, CdM would advance to Thursday’s 7:30 p.m. title game.