Playoff run ends

Mike Sciacca

A season sprinkled with what Coach Mark Hill called “great moments,”

has come to an end for the Laguna Beach High boys’ basketball team.

The Breakers were eliminated from the CIF-Southern Section

Division IV-AA playoffs by Serra, 63-53, in a second-round game at

Dugger Gymnasium.

Laguna, however, opened the playoffs with a 71-54 rout, on the

road, of Milken Community of Los Angeles.

“I’m real proud of the boys and what they accomplished his year,”

said Hill, who concluded his first year as head coach. “We beat a

first-place team on the road to begin the playoffs but against Serra,

we got stormed at the beginning of the game.

“Still, this was a very positive experience for our program.”

Laguna endured a rainy bus ride to Los Angeles to face Milken

Community in the first-round.

The long ride didn’t slow the Breakers, who took a 36-29 halftime

lead, then outscored the Wildcats in the third quarter, 19-6, to

forge a 55-35 lead.

Milken was 19-5 and champion of the Heritage League.

Laguna nailed seven three-point shots in the game, led by Jeff

Clark with four.

Cheyne Martin, who led all scorers with 25 points, knocked down

the other three.

Also scoring in double figures for the Breakers was Ivan Kovacevic

with 16 points.

That victory earned Laguna a home game against Del Rey League

runner-up Serra.

The Cavaliers raced to 38-17 halftime lead, and then held off a

second-half comeback by Laguna.

“We just got too far down, and that was such a huge deficit for us

to overcome,” Hill said. “I was proud of the way the kids battled

back, though. We were down by 21 and cut it to seven points in the

fourth quarter.”

Laguna again hit seven three-point shots, led by Martin with five.

Martin again led all scorers with 24 points and Kovacevic was

right behind the freshman with 22 points.

Laguna, which concluded the season at 14-15, had earned an

at-large bid to the playoffs.

During the 2003-04 season, the Breakers, playing without starters

Martin and Austin Sands, upset highly touted Centennial of Corona in

overtime at the Irvine World News Tournament, and swept rival Corona

del Mar in Pacific Coast League play.

The Breakers were 3-0, overall, in overtime games -- winning each

of those games on the road.

“That says a lot about the character of our team,” Hill said. “We

really have had some great moments this year and sweeping Corona del

Mar was big, especially for our seniors, who had never beaten them.”

Playing in their final season for Laguna Beach were seniors Austin

Sands, Matt Mussig, Sean Bedrick, Jake Wheeler, Taylor Willhoit and

Bobby Marquette.