Nuggets fend off Kings for hoops title

The Nuggets lived up to their top-seed billing in the city’s Junior

Basketball League postseason tournament by winning the event, as they

withstood a determined Kings squad to post a 92-82 overtime victory

at Laguna Beach High.

One day earlier, the Kings, coached by Bobby Monroe, had forced

the championship game by defeating Coach Sean Bedrick’s Nuggets,

69-67.

Unlike that loss, the title game saw the Nuggets led from the

start. They turned a 14-11 lead into a 32-18 advantage, which grew to

45-30 by late in the first half.

League and postseason tournament MVP Daniel Morrison, who poured

in 49 points, was red-hot from the start as he scored six points in

the first quarter, 10 more in the second and nine in the third.

The Kings, who went 3-7 during the regular season by won five

straight tournament games to advance to the final, outscored the

Nuggets, 20-11, in the fourth quarter to pull to withing 56-50.

Alex Vasquez hit a pair of three-pointers and Jack Monroe hit one

trey to lead the comeback.

The teams ended up tied, 77-77, at the end of regulation, as Jason

House led the final Kings’ charge with three baskets.

In overtime, the Nuggets took a quick two-point lead on Mitchell

McMullin’s lay-in, then pulled away behind a pair of field goals by

Sean Dorse, baskets by Ryan Chan and Christian Kesler and by hitting

seven of nine free throws down the stretch -- including five by

Morrison and two each by Kesler and McMullin.

Following Morrison’s 49 points, Kesler finished with nine points.

Dorse and McMullin each scored eight points and Jeffrey Chan and Alec

Jaffe each scored seven.

Kyle Jenkins and Luke Tinkess also contributed to the Nuggets’

championship run.

Three Kings hit double-figures in scoring, led by Matthew Ininns’

22 points.

House added 21 points and Monroe scored 20 behind six, three-point

baskets.

Vasquez finished with 14 points.

IN THE THIRD-PLACE GAME:

Artists 70, Trojans 69

Warren Murrell netted 22 points and Kevin Buck scored 20 more as

Coach Michael Kote’s Artists edged the Trojans of Coach Brian Bergen.

Buck ended the league with two postseason honors: he was the

league’s top defensive player and its top free throw shooter at

71.9%.

The scoring efforts of Murrell and Buck helped offset 32 points by

the Trojans’ Dylan McDonald, which included seven, three-point

baskets.

Lance Knapp and Bryce Healey each scored 13 points for the

Trojans.