Breakers basketball beats Beckman

Laguna High boys’, girls’ teams look strong as they cruise to easy league victories.The Laguna Beach High boys’ basketball team worked its way back into the win column Wednesday when it routed host Beckman, 57-23, in Pacific Coast League action.

The Breakers controlled the game early and improved to 2-5 in league. Both victories have come at the expense of Beckman.

The entire Laguna lineup got into the scoring act, paced by 22 points by Cheyne Martin.

Ryan Lawler scored nine points and had six rebounds, and Jeff Clark and Bobby Monroe each scored seven points.

“It’s good to get back into that win column,” Laguna coach Bret Fleming said. “It was great to see the kids having fun out there on the court.”

Previously, Laguna led host Tesoro heading into the fourth quarter of their league game, but the host Titans rallied to pull out a 46-40 victory.

Martin scored 15 points to lead Laguna. Brian Delino scored eight and Clark seven.

In girls’ basketball:

Just like the boys’ team, Laguna’s girls’ squad worked its way back into the win column by posting an 84-66 win at Beckman.

Claire Bevacqua poured in 25 points, Tess Grogan 18 and Brittany Clark 12.

“After watching Beckman play Northwood earlier in the season, we made the decision to pick up full-court pressure, and that really fueled everything,” Laguna coach Nicholas Ilagan said.

“Claire really fueled the defense off the bench in limited minutes. I don’t think she played more than about 14 minutes and had 25 points on what I thought was a bad shooting night. It just shows what a great athlete she is.

“We had season best nights in my opinion by both Haley Eaves and Lauren Kelly. They absolutely controlled the boards tonight and that is what kept the pressure on Beckman.”

Previously, Tesoro ran past Laguna in the second and third quarters of their league meeting, and the host Titans went on to take an 88-64 victory.

The Titans broke away from a 17-17 tie after one quarter to take a 46-30 lead at the half.

Tess Grogan led Laguna with 22 points. Brittany Clark scored 15 and Claire Bevacqua 14 for the Breakers.

“I have been very impressed by the play of Brittany Clark and especially Tess Grogan,” Ilagan said. “We were not sure if Tess would play against Tesoro after leaving the game early against Corona del Mar with an injury, but she came back and led our team with 22 points.

“She has really stepped it up, averaging 20 points over the last two games. Brittany has done a great job of pushing the ball up the court and keeping the pressure on opponents.

“The one big statistic that sticks out over the last two games is that we are getting to the free-throw line over 30 times a game. That is huge from only averaging less than 20 attempts in the previous five league games.”