Boys basketball: CdM can’t bury Artists

Barry Faulkner

LAGUNA BEACH - As the only Pacific Coast League team not already

guaranteed a berth in the CIF Southern Section boys basketball playoffs,

Laguna Beach played like it wanted to crash the postseason party Friday

night against visiting Corona del Mar.

When the section announced Thursday the Artists would forfeit nine wins

in which it used an ineligible player, it left Coach Bret Fleming’s squad

little choice but to win out and hope for help to seize one of the

league’s three automatic playoff berths.

“We knew they would come out hard, because this was their playoffs,” said

CdM Coach Paul Orris, who saw the Artists dominate the initial stages of

the the first three quarters en route to a 65-55 victory.

Laguna Beach (4-17, 1-4 in league) earned a 9-3 edge in the first 3:08 of

the first quarter; posted a 4-0 run in the opening 51 seconds of the second; and scored the first 10 points after halftime to knock the Sea

Kings (16-6, 3-2) out of a first-place tie.

“Our plan was to hang in and play patiently,” Orris said. “I thought at

halftime (which ended Laguna Beach in front, 34-31), it was anybody’s

ballgame. Then, we had a lull again (to start the third), and it forced

us to have to fight back.”

Laguna’s Chris Manker, a 6-foot-10 senior transfer from Iowa, who was at

the center of the forfeiture controversy, had six points during the 10-0

third-quarter run. He finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and four

blocked shots.

Laguna Beach senior guard Travis Hanour, widely considered the league’s

best player, amassed 25 points, 10 boards and four blocks. He drained

three straight three-pointers in a 67-second span near the end of the

first quarter and hit 5 of 6 from beyond the arc.

Senior 6-7 center Joel Templeton paced the Sea Kings with a career-high

16 points. He matched his previous career best with 10 points at

halftime. Templeton also collected a team-high 11 rebounds.

“He played a hell of a game,” Orris said of Templeton, who received help

in the scoring department from reserves Brooks Morris (10 points) and

Idean Shahangian (eight).

CdM senior Kevin Hansen, bothered by defensive pressure spearheaded by

Will Blodgett, finished with 12 points.

Orris wondered aloud if Hansen’s troubles didn’t stem from physical play

the officials chose to ignore.

“It was kind of like our last game with them, when the officials let the

kids play,” Orris said. “That’s an advantage for us, because we can bang

on the big guy (Manker), but it’s a disadvantage for us, because of what

they do to Kevin. He was being grabbed with two hands from behind and

their guy always had a hand on his hip.”

Morris, playing his first league game (he initially returned from a

broken wrist Wednesday against Saddleback), added a spark with a pair of

three-pointers. He figures to return to the starting lineup as soon as

next week.

CdM visits Westminster Wednesday for a nonleague game, before hosting

Estancia Friday at 6 p.m.

Austin Butters had 12 points and eight rebounds to complement the

Artists’ dynamic duo.

With Estancia’s victory over Costa Mesa Friday, University, which had the

league bye, retains sole possession of first place.

Laguna Beach is two games behind second-place CdM and Mesa with three

league games left.

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS

Pacific Coast League

Laguna Beach 65, Corona del Mar 55

Score by Quarters

Corona del Mar 13 18 7 17 - 55 Laguna Beach 22 12 17 14 - 65 Corona del Mar - Templeton 16, Hansen 12, Morris 10, Shahangian 8,

Hietbrink 5, Hanson 4, Snell 0, Patterson 0.

3-pt. goals - Morris 2, Shahangian 2, Hansen 1, Hanson 1.

Fouled out - Hansen.

Technicals - None.

Laguna Beach - Hanour 25, Manker 18, Butters 12, Boyd 6, Blodgett 4.

3-pt. goals - Hanour 5, Butters 1.

Fouled out - Blodgett.

Technicals - None.