La Canada outlasts Sea Kings

Patrick Laverty

If he was offered a two-point lead 10 seconds into the third quarter,

Corona del Mar High boys basketball coach Ryan Curry wouldn’t have

hesitated in response.

“Let’s play,” Curry said.

The Sea Kings had exactly that scenario, but the final 15 minutes,

50 seconds belonged to La Canada.

The Spartans, seeded fourth in the CIF Southern Section Division

III-A playoffs, scored 12 unanswered points to build a double-digit

lead and held off host Corona del Mar, 59-46, in a second-round game.

“We listed four things that we needed to do before the game,”

Curry said. “One, we wanted to control the tempo. We wanted to make

it an up-tempo game. [Two], we need to rebound on the defensive

boards. Three, we really need to execute our stuff. Four, we need to

stay poised. Turnovers happen when you lose your composure. We did a

good job on the defensive boards, but not in the other three areas.”

A half-court game throughout, La Canada’s significant height

advantage took control of the game and its three-point shooting

ability put the game out of reach.

“I think our size eventually wore them down,” La Canada Coach Tom

Hofman said.

Rhett Anderson, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, came off the bench for the

Spartans (26-2) to score 14 points, including eight in the second

quarter, consistently posting up the smaller Sea Kings, who don’t

start a player over 6-foot-3.

Corona del Mar stayed with La Canada throughout the first half and

when Kevin Welch hit a three-pointer with three seconds remaining

before halftime, the score was tied, 25-25.

Adam Freede, who led CdM with 13 points, put the Sea Kings up by

two, 10 seconds into the third quarter when he stole the ball and

scored an easy bucket.

But Umar Kahn, who finished with 14 points, came back with a

bucket for La Canada, then the Spartans retook the lead by going

inside to 6-foot-8 junior Philip Anderson.

Just over a minute later Ryan Cosgrove nailed a three-pointer to

put the Spartans up 32-27. It was the first outside jumper La Canada

had made on the night and it seemed to loosen up the favored

Spartans.

La Canada, which missed all nine of its three-point attempts in

the first half after making 13 in a first-round win over Northview,

hit 4 of 6 from long range in the third quarter, ending the period

with a 44-31 lead.

The Sea Kings cut the lead back to 10 points when Pancho Seaborn

hit a three-pointer to open the fourth period, but a 10-0 run by the

Spartans, which included six points by Rhett Anderson, put the game

out of reach.

Seaborn, who entered the game averaging 16.9 points, was limited

to just eight and fouled out of the game with 4:52 remaining. Guarded

primarily by La Canada’s Craig Ballard, Seaborn was held to 3 of 8

shooting and didn’t even attempt a shot in the second half until his

three-pointer in the opening moments of the fourth quarter.

“They went after him,” Curry said. “They forced us to get other

kids to score. We needed to do a better job of getting him open and

getting him the ball.”

In the first half, others did pick up the slack, including Welch,

who came off the bench to hit two three-pointers in the second

quarter. But Corona del Ma made just two field goals in the third

quarter, when they were outscored 19-6, and managed only 17

field-goal attempts in the entire second half.

Senior Jay Northridge finished with eight points for the Sea

Kings, who end the year 14-14, and Welch added six.

*--*

CIF Division III-A

Second round

La Canada 59, Corona del Mar 46

Score by Quarters

La Canada 12 13 19 15 -- 59

CdM 10 15 6 15 -- 46

La Canada -- Khan 14, Ballard 6, Cosgrove 12,

Ho 2, P. Anderson 7, Kumagai 2, Stoner 2, R.

Anderson 14,. 3-pt. goals -- Cosgrove 3,

Anderson 1. Fouled out -- None. Technicals --

None. Corona del Mar -- Northridge 8, R.

Lance 2, Freede 13, Seaborn 8, T. Lance 2,

Watanabe 2, Reynolds 0, K. Welch 6, Mohler 4,

MacDonald 1, Kabaklian 0, Manni 0. 3-pt.

goals -- Northridge 2, K. Welch 2, Seaborn 1,

Freede 1. Fouled out -- Seaborn Technicals --

Watanabe 2.

*--*