Hawks dunk favored Ducks

The Hawks opened play in the city of Laguna Beach’s Junior Basketball

League with a bang as they defeated the preseason favorite, the

Ducks, 76-62, at Laguna Beach High’s Dugger Gymnasium.

Coach Brian Bergen’s Hawks took advantage of a Ducks team, coached

by Bobby Monroe, that was forced to play the game with a four-man

squad that had been depleted by absent players.

Despite being a man down, the Ducks’ Ryan Lawler poured in 44

points. That output, however, wasn’t enough to offset a trio of Hawks

in double figures as Skylar Perkins scored 16 points, Brett Thompson

scored 14 and Ricky Zona scored 14.

Remington Zona was next with nine points for the Hawks, who raced

to a 40-23 halftime lead.

Lawler is the league’s scoring leader with a 40.5 points per game

average after two games.

In other league openers:

Artists 72, Kings 44

Dylan McDonald netted seven three-point shots en route to a

35-point game as the Artists took advantage of a Kings team that was

missing two key players.

Lance Knapp added 16 points and Scott Chapel scored 10 more for

the Artists, who are coached by Ian Butters.

McDonald and Knapp each went four for four from the free throw

line as the Artists finished eight of eight from the charity stripe.

That perfect performance broke a league team record dating back to

1983, when the Supersonics hit five of six foul shots to finish the

game at 83.3%.

Erich Vickers scored 19 points to lead the Kings, also coached by

Bobby Monroe.

Spurs 49, Tar Heels 44

The Spurs, coached by Cataldo Alessi, bolted to 32-8 halftime

lead, then held on to defeat Spencer Harrell’s Tar Heels.

Double figure scorers for the Spurs included Andrew Levin with 14

points, Matt Karam with 11 and John Palfreyman with 10.

Dylan Roley scored 15 points and Christian Kesler scored 11 more

for the Tar Heels, who outscored the Spurs, 36-17, in the second

half.