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A roundup of the Orange County boys basketball highlights on Friday:
The Laguna Beach boys basketball team clinched the outright Wave League championship by beating Fountain Valley 54-49 on Friday at Laguna Beach High.
The league championship is the first for the Breakers in the Sunset Conference. Laguna Beach (19-7, 5-0) won the Orange Coast League championship in 2018.
Nolan Naess had a game-high 23 points for Laguna Beach and Willie Rounaghi added 10.
Roddie Anderson and Jermiah Davis had 13 and 12 points, respectively, for Fountain Valley (14-8, 3-2).
Fountain Valley will play Marina on Wednesday to decide second place in the Wave League. Fountain Valley beat Marina 80-60 on Jan. 24.
In other games Friday:
No. 19 Cypress 63, Crean Lutheran 47: Cypress won a share of its third consecutive Empire League championship by routing second-place Crean Lutheran.
The Centurions have won 28 consecutive Empire League games. Cypress (21-5, 8-0) can clinch the outright league title with one more win or a Crean Lutheran loss.
The Cents (21-5) clinched their 4th title in 5 yrs and 3rd in a row as the beat Crean Lu 63-47#CypHype@christiannchai 23 pt 2-3
@Espencer112 19 pt@vaielua 10pt 15 rb 7 bk@ocvarsity @OCSportsZone @SteveFryer @MattyK31 @DavidDelgado_OC @mikehuntley63 @SoCalSections @MattyK31 pic.twitter.com/OKamoqy6eC
— CypressCenturionsBasketball (@CypressCenturi1) February 1, 2020
Christian Chai paced Cypress with 23 points. Eddie Spencer added 19 points and Elijah Vaielua flirted with a triple-double with 10 points, 15 rebounds and seven blocks.
Josh Shin led the Saints with 18 points. Crean Lutheran (15-9, 6-2) will play fourth-place Valencia on Tuesday.
No. 10 Mission Viejo 59, No. 22 San Clemente 47: Mission Viejo moved into second place in the South Coast League with its victory over visiting San Clemente.
The Diablos avenged an overtime loss to San Clemente on Jan. 17.
With the win, Mission Viejo (21-4, 4-2) clinched at least a second-place finish in the South Coast League.
Senior Nathan Hewitt led Mission Viejo with 13 points. Griff Higgins and Jake Conerty each added 10 points.
San Clemente (15-11, 3-4) sits in third place in the league standings. The Tritons will play a nonleague game Tuesday against Laguna Hills before wrapping the regular season against Trabuco Hills on Thursday, Feb. 6.
El Dorado 54, Brea Olinda 43: El Dorado moved into second place in the North Hills League by beating Brea Olinda at El Dorado High.
The Golden Hawks and Wildcats are tied for second place in league with 2-2 records.
John Bakke led El Dorado (16-10, 2-2) with 22 points and Jake Duthoy added 13.
El Dorado will host El Modena on Tuesday, Feb. 4 before ending the regular season against first-place Yorba Linda on Thursday, Feb. 6.
– Michael Huntley
Tustin 47, Valencia 35: Tustin took sole possession of third place in the Empire League with its win over Valencia.
Ben Ahinaquah had a team-high 11 points and eight rebounds for the Tillers (17-9, 4-4).
Tustin’s Jason Naranjo finished with 10 points and Kyan Patel had 10 rebounds.
Isaiah Arthurton had a game-high 20 points for the Tigers (17-9, 3-5).
No. 7 Canyon 64, Foothill 35: Liam Woodrum scored 14 points as Canyon stayed unbeaten in league play.
Nathan Williams added 13 points, including two 3-pointers, and Cody Jones had eight points.
The Comanches (17-9, 4-0) can clinch a share of the Crestview League championship with a win Tuesday against Esperanza before their regular-season finale against Villa Park on Thursday.
No. 3 Capo Valley 73, No. 25 Aliso Niguel 54: Capistrano Valley used a balanced effort to rout Aliso Niguel.
The Cougars (24-1, 6-0) had four players finish in double figures: Zach Roberts (18 points), Conner Gleason (14 points), Spencer Egbert (11 points) and Langston Redfield (10 points).
Redfield also recorded 14 rebounds.
The Wolverines were led by Tyler Weaver, who had a game-high 22 points.
Portola 57, Northwood 48: Portola stayed atop the Pacific Coast League standings with a win over Northwood.
Robert Giraldy led the Bulldogs (15-11, 7-1) with 20 points. Portola’s Soma Doherty had 14 points and Mohsen Hashemi added 11 points.
IT’S SILENT NIGHT IN THE DEN
The Den stayed COMPLETELY silent until our team’s 8th point in honor of Kobe Bryant and the 8 other lives lost in the tragedy on Sunday morning
@MAlvarez02 @SoCalSections @ocvarsity @SteveFryer #ocvfans @espn @ESPNLosAngeles #espntop10 pic.twitter.com/Tm6M1uGja4
— Northwood Den (@NorthwoodDen) February 1, 2020
IT’S SILENT NIGHT IN THE DEN
The Den stayed COMPLETELY silent until our team’s 8th point in honor of Kobe Bryant and the 8 other lives lost in the tragedy on Sunday morning
The Timberwolves had three players in double figures. Shandon Sharifi had a team-high 15 points, Amit Flint scored 13 points and Trent Harper chipped in 11 points.
– David Delgado