IRVINE – The nonleague boys basketball game Tuesday between Laguna Hills and host team Portola could be sized up pretty easily: Laguna Hills’ inexperience against Portola’s lack of height.
Today, Portola is still small and scrappy, but the question of the Hawks’ inexperience may well be questioned.
Having lost their point guard earlier in the day, and needing to lean on each other more than ever, Laguna Hills turned in its best performance of the season with a 65-55 victory over the Bulldogs.
“That was the best pace, the best poise, the best ball possession we’ve played all season,” Laguna Hills coach Sean Sargeant told his players afterward.
There was reason for the first-year coach to be so upbeat after the victory. Players learned only hours earlier that point guard Canaan Kanyike had been deemed ineligible, something that not only cost the Hawks a player but may cost them their victories in which Kanyike played.
“The boys love him, he’s a big part of our team, and the boys felt that,” Sargeant said. “That’s why tonight was big for them. They had to learn about that today and then show up for the game and not having him here, not having that energy, not having him on the floor, that’s why the team performance was so impressive, for them to bounce back – especially because they’re so young, having that resiliency.
“I really think the boys showed that they took a step in the direction where we grew as a team and took a step away from that inexperience and took a step toward a team that’s more experienced and poised.”
Laguna Hills improved to 8-5 – for now – and Portola dropped to 6-7.
Losing Kanyike meant freshman Cyrus Yusuf had to step into the shoes left by the senior. He was not a liability by any means. “He was making good plays and understanding the flow of the game, handling the physicality of the game – really important,” Sargeant said.
And like he has done in other games, 6-foot-4 junior Jackson Burnham found his sweet spot in the second half. Burnham scored 16 of his game-high 20 in the second half, including 12 in the fourth quarter. He went 6 for 6 from the free-throw line in the final 37 seconds as Laguna Hills stretched a 59-52 margin to 65-52 before Max Paulsen’s 3-pointer at the buzzer ended the scoring.
“I’ve been scoring a lot in the second half,” Burnham said. “I had 17 in the last game (against University) and 19 against Foothill in the second half.”
So he’s a second-half player, right?
“I’m a full-game player,” Burnham quipped back. “but the second half seems to come pretty easy to me.”
Laguna Hills had beaten Portola by 15 earlier this season, and Burnham and Sergeant both said this game felt closer than 10 points. That’s a credit to Portola, which had cut an 11-point deficit in the second quarter to 37-36 with 4:34 left in the third quarter.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Ryusei Mitani’s layup as part of a 7-2 run to open the period would be Portola’s last field goal for the next six minutes. By the time Brady Kim scored with 5:31 remaining, Laguna Hills had opened up a 10-point lead.
Portola couldn’t hit shots and it couldn’t get an offensive rebound. After going 5 of 11 from the 3-point line in the first half – and trailing by only two possessions – they were 1 of 17 in the second. The 21 percent shooting was well off their usual 38 percent from the line.
“They made scrappy plays and we didn’t,” Portola coach Brian Smith said. “They were getting the 50-50 balls and we didn’t. We played hard, but we didn’t play as tough as them. And they have big guys who can shoot and who can finish.”
In addition to Burnham, 6-4 sophomore Myles Mittelsteadt came off the bench – he didn’t start because of a team policy issue – to score his average 16 points. Andrew Matthews added 12 and Yusuf had 11, including three 3-pointers. Sargeant praised Mittelsteadt for having a great attitude and “doing the little things you don’t see in the scorebook.”
Portola was led by Paulsen’s 16 points, and he was complemented by Mitani’s 12, Kim’s 11 and Lucas Ip’s nine.
