IRVINE – Corona del Mar’s boys basketball team shared the Pacific Coast League title last year with Woodbridge.
But the Sea Kings put themselves in a pretty good position to claim the undisputed crown after an impressive 58-42 victory at Northwood on Friday night.
With the first round complete, league-leading Corona del Mar (15-6, 5-0) has a two-game lead over Northwood and Woodbridge.
The Sea Kings were impressive from the start, jumping out to a 10-0 lead against Northwood (12-9, 3-2).
It was close at halftime with CdM holding a 28-24 advantage. But the Sea Kings broke the game open in the third quarter, outscoring the Timberwolves, 21-6.
“I thought in that third quarter, our defense did a great job,” said CdM coach Ryan Schacter.
The Sea Kings contained Northwood center Jake Linsky, who was coming off a school record 42-point, 26-rebound performance Tuesday night against University.
Linsky, who had 10 rebounds, was held to 11 points and fouled out with 13 seconds left in the third quarter.
“When Linsky had four we just went right at him,” Schacter said. “We knew he wasn’t going to try and foul and we have some guys who can score inside and it worked.
“(Ryan) Stone was the guy guarding him all night. We were trying not to give him any space because he’s such a good shooter and a good scorer inside. We just wanted to crowd him as much as possible.”
With the 6-foot-7 Linsky out, it was a tall order for the Timberwolves to come back from a 19-point deficit.
“It was a bad matchup for us, they’re just too big and strong,” said Northwood coach Tim O’Brien.
Corona del Mar had a balanced scoring attack led by Sam Kobrine, who had 14 points. Matt Ctvrtlik added 13 points, including eight in the critical third quarter.
Ctvrtlik also played a part in getting Linsky to pick up his fifth foul.
“It was a competitive game, Northwood is very talented but we came out and played well,” Ctvrtlik said. “Our coaches and senior leaders did pretty well getting us pumped for this game.
“We made a few big shots when it counted and got their guys in foul trouble and we executed our game plan. Since I went in for our other big man, I knew I just had to take it to their big man who was in foul trouble, and I knew he wouldn’t foul me so I just tried to take it to him as much as I could and using my versatility I could get around him a little more.”
Ryan Moss added 10 points and nine rebounds for CdM.
Contact the writer: tburt@ocregister.com
