Breaker boys edge Centennial, 64-63

The Laguna Beach High boys’ basketball team went to overtime Tuesday

night in its first-round game at the Irvine World News Tournament and

came away with a 64-63 victory over Centennial of Corona.

The Breakers, who took a seven point lead into the fourth quarter,

outscored the Huskies, 11-10, in overtime.

Taylor Willhoit scored two of his 17 points on a pair of free

throws with 2.9 seconds left in overtime, to win it for Laguna.

It was only the second loss in seven games for Centennial this

season.

Laguna’s Ivan Kovacevic poured in a career-high 34 points to lead

all scorers.

The win improved Laguna’s record to 5-3.

In previous tournament play, Laguna scored a 58-54 victory over

Santa Ana in consolation championship game of the Aztec Classic at La

Quinta High.

The Breakers were playing without the services of freshman and

team leading scorer, Cheyne Martin, and starter Austin Sands, both of

whom sat out the Santa Ana game because of the flu.

Kovacevic and Willhoit picked up the slack, however.

Kovacevic, who went on to be named to the all-tournament team,

scored 19 points and pulled down 18 rebounds.

Willhoit led the way with 22 points and added 14 rebounds.

Laguna had also dumped Estancia, 69-50, in consolation play at

tournament. The Breakers got 21 points and 11 rebounds from Kovacevic, 19 points from Martin and 10 points from Willhoit.

“I thought we played our best game of the season against

Estancia,” Laguna Coach Mark Hill said. “The kids did a great job.

We’re still decimated by the flu, though.”

The flu also had kept Martin and Sands out of Tuesday’s Centennial

game at the Irvine World News Tournament.

In girls’ basketball play Tuesday, Laguna went to Huntington Beach

and defeated the host Oilers, 46-38, in nonleague play.

Senior Aja Roley and freshman Brittany Clark led Laguna’s scoring

attack with 15 and 13 points, respectively.

Roley also collected eight rebounds and Clark finished with three

assists, four steals and six rebounds.

Senior guard Deana Awadalla had five assists.

“In a true team win for us, the girls played their most

inspirational game of the year, letting their defensive enthusiasm

and intensity fuel our play,” Coach Stacy Howard said. “By far, it

was our best defensive game of the year and we got great bench

support as well. The girls had a great time and we had great parent

support in the stands for our best win so far this year.”

Senior Summer Kendrick came off the bench to hit all three of her

shots from the floor to finish with six points, and junior Andrea

Ventura also scored six points and hauled in eight rebounds.

Laguna led for much of the game but did trail, 36-33, in the third

period. Awadalla, however, hit a three-point basket to tie the game

and the Breakers never trailed thereafter.

Laguna came into the Huntington game fresh off a sixth-place

finish at the Cajon Tournament.

In the fifth-place game, the Breakers fell to Los Osos of Rancho

Cucamonga, 60-33.

Roley scored 13 points and had eight rebounds on a night where

Laguna hit just 11 of 32 free throw attempts and turned the ball over

28 times.

Roley had her third double-double of the season in Laguna’s

previous tournament game, a 58-40 win over Rim of the World. She

scored 22 points and had 12 rebounds and went three of five from

three-point range.

Senior Katie Sexton’s big effort included 15 points on six of 12

shooting and eight rebounds. Awadalla scored nine points to go along

with four assists and Clark, Howard said, had a program-record eight

assists, to go along with four steals.

Laguna was 5-4 overall, heading into a Wednesday night game at

Dana Hills.