In elite company

They cut down one of the nets at Dugger Gymnasium Wednesday night, each member of the Laguna Beach High boys’ basketball varsity program taking a little snippet of history with him.

The spoils were many for the Breakers following their monumental moment, a 49-42 victory against visiting Calvary Chapel that was the regular-season finale for both teams. All that was on line before a full, boisterous house was the championship of the inaugural Orange Coast League — which now belongs to Laguna Beach.

It marks only the eighth time in the 73-year history of Laguna boys’ basketball that one of its squads has won a league title and is the school’s first since 1999 and second since 1963.

The Breakers can now join the 1948, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1962 and those ’63 and ’99 squads in calling themselves league champion.

What’s more, Wednesday’s win came on Senior Night and was Laguna’s 23rd of the year, which also established a school record for most victories in a regular season. The old mark was 22, set by the 1961-62 team that holds the school record for most wins (27) in a season. That squad also won the second of two CIF titles the school owns in the sport.

“I think that these kids have shown a lot of heart, a lot of guts, throughout the season,” said Bret Fleming, the winningest basketball coach in Laguna history, who also led the program to its last title in ’99. “They’ve faced a lot of adversity. They keep getting hit with obstacles, but they never roll over and quit. That’s a tribute to their character.”

When leading-scorer Cheyne Martin went down with a wrist injury last month, many felt the Breakers’ great year to that point would end there. It didn’t.

When leading-rebounder Ryan Lawler broke his right foot during warm-ups prior to Monday’s league game against Estancia, the prospect of winning a league title two nights later against Calvary Chapel appeared slim. It wasn’t.

When senior guard Ian Butters hit the floor hard while driving to the Laguna basket midway through the third quarter and left the game with what Fleming termed a “pretty good” hip pointer, Calvary Chapel appeared to gain momentum and seemed headed for a comeback victory. It didn’t happen.

When senior forward Nathan Pickett was saddled with his fourth foul a minute into the fourth quarter, it appeared that Calvary Chapel would be able to take advantage and dominate on the inside. The Eagles couldn’t.

Instead, it was the Breakers who stood strong. And kept coming, and coming.

During a walk-through prior to the big matchup, Fleming said he pointed out to his players the school banner that showed the years of the seven previous Laguna teams that won a league crown. During timeouts during the game, he pointed to the banner and told his players that it was a list to strive for.

Delino said he was well aware of it.

“Coach kept pointing to the banner hanging in the gym, reminding us that we wanted to add our year to the other teams that were on that banner. “We were hungry to put our year up there, too.

“During the game, I’d glance at it from time to time. When Calvary hit that late basket to take a two-point lead at the end of the third quarter, I said to myself, ‘No, this isn’t going to happen. They’re not going to come in here and take that title from us.’ ”

When the Eagles took that 36-34 lead on a lay-in by forward Caleb Burgess just prior to the third-quarter buzzer, it was their first since leading, 3-2, in the early stages of the game. Although he was bandaged up, Butters returned to the floor with 6:31 to play and Laguna trailing, 38-37. Calvary Chapel missed a pair of three-point shot attempts on consecutive trips downcourt that could have increased its lead, and then a turnover created by Butters led to a pair of Chris Hyden free throws that gave Laguna the lead for good, 39-38, with 5:20 to play.

Delino also came up with a steal on Calvary’s next offensive possession, missed from three-point range but hustled to rebound his own miss. He was fouled going to the basket and then hit two free throws to up Laguna’s lead to 41-38.

Delino also figured prominently is a sequence that gave the Breakers further control. He came up with a defensive rebound and hit a twisting layup before hitting the deck that made it a 43-38 game with 3:42 to play.

Calvary Chapel fought back to pull to within 43-42, but a nice feed from junior guard Charley Bowman led to a layup by senior Hyden that pushed Laguna in front again, 45-42.

Delino scored on a jumper and added a free throw and senior center Bob Monroe hit one free throw, all in the final 1:17, to put the game away.

All that was left at the final horn was an on-court celebration that was capped by the net-cutting ceremony.

“We’ve worked hard for this moment,” said Monroe, who had another solid game in the paint. “We’re gong to enjoy this, then get ready for our next season, which is CIF. We want to go play at The Pond.”

The CIF basketball pairings will be announced Sunday.

The Breakers’ big week began last Friday with a road test at Costa Mesa. The Breakers never trailed after the teams were tied 4-4, and went on to pick up an important, 63-56 victory.

Laguna, Costa Mesa and Calvary Chapel had entered play last Friday in a three-way tie for first place in the league standings.

Laguna led by as many as nine points and withstood a barrage of three-point shot attempts by the Mustangs — 24 — to get the win. Costa Mesa connected on 10 of those shots from behind the arc. In contrast, the Breakers didn’t hit a three-point shot.

Monroe led Laguna with 19 points. Lawler had 10 and Marcus Hairston 10.