Defense leads the way

The Laguna Beach High boys’ basketball team was defensive-minded Wednesday night.

The goal was to keep visiting Estancia under 40 points in the Orange Coast League game and the Breakers did just that, limiting the Eagles to one point under that bar as they rolled to a 61-39 victory at Dugger Gym.

The win upped Laguna’s league record to 3-0. The Breakers are now 15-5 overall.

“I thought we really stepped it up defensively and just did a great job,” Laguna Coach Bret Fleming said. “We had a goal to keep them under 40 and the kids did that. They really worked hard out there.”

Laguna jumped out to an early lead, taking an 18-7 advantage after one quarter. The Breakers then steadily pulled away in the third quarter and went on to outscore the Eagles by 13 points in the second half.

Dylan Roley led all scorers with 21 points. Chris Paul came up with 16 points, Cody Duplisea scored 11, Adam Selevan had seven points, John Palfreyman added four points and Skylar Perkins finished with two points.

The Breakers won big despite not having starter Ryan Lawler for the game.

“They threw a box-and-one defense on Roley and Chris Paul really stepped up big time on offense and really attacked the basket,” Fleming said. “I thought John Palfreyman did a great job defensively. He held their leading scorer (Troy McClanahan) scoreless.”

Laguna wraps up the first round of league play today, hosting Costa Mesa at 7 p.m. A victory by the Breakers would put them at 4-0 at the halfway point of the league race and continue to give them sole possession of first place in the league standings.

Next week, the Breakers host Godinez at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

“It’s always tough to beat teams the second time around and Costa Mesa will come in here playing us tough,” Fleming said. “If we can continue to stay healthy and have other kids step up, then I like our chances. I feel like this team has grown but I still see room for continued improvement.”

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Girls’ Basketball

Laguna got out to a strong start in its Tuesday Orange Coast League encounter with Estancia, but it let the game slip away in the second half and eventually fell to the host Eagles, 60-36.

The Breakers took a 12-10 lead after one quarter, but fell behind and went into the fourth quarter down nine points. In the final eight minutes, Estancia outscored Laguna, 22-8, to pull away.

Emily Writer led Laguna in scoring with 18 points. Sam Garner scored nine points and dominated the boards with 19 rebounds. She also had four blocked shots.

“Turnovers killed us once again,” said Coach Jon Hendrickson, whose squad committed 30 in the game.

The setback left Laguna at 0-3 in league and 1-16 overall. The Breakers played Costa Mesa on Thursday, but the score wasn’t available at press time.

Laguna next hosts Godinez on Tuesday. The teams tip-off at 7 p.m.