Knights rule Sea Kings

Bryce Alderton

In the hierarchy of goals for the Corona del Mar High boys basketball

team, Coach Ryan Curry lists playing with effort at the top.

The Sea Kings fell short of that summit in an 80-63 loss to

Foothill in a fifth-place semifinal of the Estancia Coast Classic

Monday afternoon, a loss Curry attributed as much to himself as the

players.

“You have to get your team to play hard all the time and that is

my responsibility to rectify,” Curry said. “I told our kids we need a

better effort and attitude with no complaining or whining and that

goes for coaches, too. Our goal is not to win, but to play well.

Playing well leads to improvement, which leads to success, which

leads to good things. We did not play well today.”

The Knights (8-5) never trailed and hit 11 of 20 three-pointers

(55%), including six by Brandt Bangs, who tallied a game-high 21

points. Foothill shot 32 of 55 from the field (58%) and got 16 points

each from Ben Worrall and Chase Roblee.

“I knew we would be in for a tough game,” Curry said. “Their

guards are good and their kids did a lot of different things not to

let us catch them. They are too talented.”

Senior starters Pancho Seaborn (12 points), Jay Northridge (11

points) and Adam Freede (10 points) led CdM in scoring, but the Sea

Kings’ defense couldn’t contain Foothill’s transition game and

frequent screens at the top of the key.

“We did not play well defensively at all,” Curry said. “We got

caught in screens allowing guys to get open and we were not

switching. We tried to go with full-court pressure to force a lob [in

the second half] and did a better job, but the effort was still not

there.”

The Knights largest lead was 72-47 after one of Bangs’ threes with

just more than five minutes remaining.

The closest CdM (6-7) came after an 8-7 deficit was 33-26 when

Ryan Lance (six points) made a steal and found Northridge cutting to

the hoop for a layup with 3:13 to go in the first half.

But Foothill scored the next seven points and ended the half with

a 12-6 run to take a 45-32 lead at intermission.

The Knights made four straight field goals during a span of 2:43

in the third quarter and finished the period leading by 20.

CdM netted four three-pointers and every Sea King that saw action

scored. Junior starter Tyler Lance scored four points while junior

Kevin Welch came off the bench to tally six points, followed by four

from Taylor McDonald, three apiece by Reid Watanabe and Brian

Reynolds and two apiece by Tom Welch and Joe Kabaklian. McDonald

tallied four assists while Tyler Lance and Northridge each grabbed

four rebounds.

Even with a comfortable lead, Foothill Coach Tom McCluskey wanted

to maintain the pressure.

“With the three-point shot, teams can come back on any court,”

McCluskey said.

Roblee grabbed 12 rebounds while senior point guard Jeff O’Tool

tallied 11 assists.

“[Roblee] has been the most consistent player for us all year,”

Foothill McCluskey said.

CdM faces Workman in today’s seventh-place game at 1:30 p.m.

*--*

Estancia Coast Classic

Fifth-place semifinal Foothill 80, Corona del

Mar 63

Score by Quarters

CdM 16 16 12 19 -- 63

Foothill 23 22 19 16 -- 80

Corona del Mar -- Seaborn 12, R. Lance 6, T.

Lance 4, Northridge 11, Freede 10, K. Welch

6, McDonald 4, Watanabe 3, T. Welch 2,

Reynolds 2, Kabaklian 2. 3-pt. goals --

Seaborn 1, Northridge 1, Freede 1, Reynolds

1. Fouled out -- None. Technicals -- None.

Foothill -- Worrall 16, Bangs 21, Roblee 16,

O’Tool 9, Sabino 0, Spencer 8, Bradtke 4,

Jarmon 6, Martin 0. 3-pt. goals -- Bangs 6,

O’Tool 2, Roblee 1, Spencer 2. Fouled out --

Sabino. Technicals -- None.

*--*