Mike Sciacca
After suffering a tough loss to Northwood High on the opening night
of the Pacific Coast League boys' basketball race on Jan. 7, Laguna
Beach responded by winning its next two games.
The Breakers won at Calvary Chapel, 67-59, then won on the road at
Tesoro, 62-48.
The two wins put Laguna Beach at 2-1 in league play heading into
this week's league clashes with University Wednesday and today at
Corona del Mar.
The Breakers trailed most of the way against Calvary Chapel but
outscored the host Eagles, 22-7, in the fourth quarter.
Senior Ivan Kovacevic scored a season-high 33 points and added 12
rebounds to his performance.
Nikola Nikolic added 12 points for Laguna Beach.
"I felt that we didn't come ready to play in this game but
fortunately, we survived," Laguna Beach coach Mark Hill said.
Against Tesoro, Laguna grabbed the lead for good midway through
the first quarter, and never surrendered it.
"In fact, we kept expanding the lead in each quarter," Hill said.
"We came of age in that game. We showed tremendous character as we
withheld each run they would make in such a hostile and intense game.
A balanced Breakers offense saw Kovacevic score 21 points, Nikolic
score 17, Jeff Clark hit some big, second half shots to finish 13
points -- all coming in the final half -- and Mike Kote play a big
game with 10 points, eight assists and seven rebounds.
"It was a huge win for our program but of course, there are seven
more huge games ahead of us," Hill said.
In girls' basketball, Laguna Beach saw a five-game win streak come
to an end in a home loss Tuesday to PCL rival University, 48-44.
The Breakers dug themselves in a hole early and trailed, 15-3,
after one quarter.
They came back strong, however, over the second and third quarters
to wipe out the 12-point deficit and build a four point advantage
heading into the fourth quarter.
There, University outscored Laguna Beach, 18-10, to pull out the
win.
"It was a tough, tough loss," Laguna coach Stacy Howard said.
Hopefully, it was an eye-opener for the girls, that on any given
night, anyone can upset you.
"I won't say we were over confident, because I don't think that's
what it was. We just really only played our style for about four
minutes at the end of the second quarter. We played hard, but not
well, and it mostly came from not being sharp as unit on the floor."
Laguna shot just 32% from the field and a measly 21% from the free throw line.
Claire Bevacqua had 17 points and nine rebounds, Brittany Clark
