LBHS Boys Hoops
Staff photo by Courtenay Nearburg Senior Ryan Lawler, No. 25, led the Breakers to a resounding 79-28 victory over Calvary Chapel Monday night at Dugger Gym. Lawler scored 21 points. Laguna rolled through the fifth annual La Quinta Shootout last week, beating perennial OC hoops powers Northwood and Katella before falling just short in the title game to Marina. Laguna-63 Northwood-34
In warm-ups before last Wednesday's game, the stronger "beefy" Northwood team looked like a sure winner and after they quickly opened up a 5-0 lead in the opening period, few in attendance gave much hope to our locals.
Laguna shot poorly (4-11 in 2 pt FG, 1-3 in 3 pt shots, and 1-4 on the line) but somehow held a slim 12-10 lead after eight minutes. From there, Laguna's intensity level picked up bigtime and a confident Laguna rolled to only their second-ever win over Northwood in 14 tries outscoring the Timberwolves by 27 points.
Dylan Roley led all players with 32 points while Ryan Lawler hit for 12. Both players had nine boards. John Palfreyman hit on 3 of 4 shots with 2 assists and 2 steals, Adam Selevan had 4 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals, Chris Paul made his debut with 4 points, 3 boards and two steals, Cody Duplisea had 3 points, 2 assists, and Skyler Perkins also scored on his only attempt.
It was a very physical game and the two teams will face each other again on Monday, December 22 at El Toro. Laguna-48 Katella-43
As was the case with Northwood, the Breakers have had very little success over the years against Katella but unlike the Northwood game, the Breakers never seemed confident even with a lead for most of the game.
The Friday night semifinal contest was all Ryan Lawler. In the first quarter the senior had three field goals and hit both attempts from beyond the arc and added a pair of free throws for 14 points to give Laguna an early commanding lead. The Knights came back after the intermission and briefly took a lead before Roley took over and helped seal the Breaker's victory with a hot second half. Lawler finished with 24 points, Roley 17, and Selevan had five points and five assists. Marina-45 Laguna-34
The Viking press rattled Laguna as the Breakers made only 4 of 24 shots in the first half and never mounted a real threat in the title game. Laguna's defense did keep the lid on the high scoring 3-point happy Sunset League squad holding them to only seven long-range baskets, well below their usual output. Lawler led all Breakers with 10 points and 9 rebounds. Laguna-78 Calvary Murrieta-29
Bret Fleming's team bounced right back with a blowout victory Monday night at Dugger Gym as the Breakers broke the school record for margin of victory with a 49-point thumping of Calvary Murrieta from Riverside County on Monday at Dugger Gym.
All nine Breaker players scored as the deep strength of the Laguna bench kept the pressure on even after guns Lawler (21 points) and Roley (18 points) were retired for the evening.
Christian Kesler hit for 8 points with 10 rebounds and Selevan also had eight points. Skyler Perkins had six points; Cory Duplisea and John Palfreyman added four, while Tyler Masukawa scored on his only shot. The old margin of victory record was 47 points set in 2006 against Sage Hill and on San Marcos in a 1961 contest played in Bing Crosby Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds.
This Friday, Dec. 12, Laguna hosts a very tall and talented Dana Hills team and venture back to tournament play next week at Garden Grove.
Individual scoring statistics can be found at maxpreps.com while the entire LBHS Basketball record book can be found on the sports section of the Indy web site, www.lbindy.com.
