Trabuco Hills takes control early and captures tournament victory over Woodbridge

Trabuco Hills was led by Colin Duckens (left) and Jack Warnick in the victory over Woodbridge. (Photos Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Portola and Tesoro basketball teams also win at the Mariko Memorial Classic Wednesday night.

Trabuco Hills boys basketball team led from the start and went on to defeat Woodbridge 59-49 in the Mariko Memorial Classic Wednesday night at Woodbridge.

Trabuco Hills jumped out to an eight point lead in the opening minutes and led 36-26 at halftime.

The Mustangs (4-2) were led by Colin Duckens who scored 19 points and made five 3-pointers off the bench and Jack Warnick, who had 17 points, 14 rebounds and six assists.

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“It was a physical battle, Jack Warnick stepped up and rebounded really well and that’s been our focus with Jack, he really wants to score, we want him to be a complete player as a junior and three-year varsity guy and that’s what he went out and did tonight,” said Trabuco Hills Coach Sean Sullens.

“And Colin Duckens was huge off the bench. We had talked today and that was kind of our focus today was our bench production and not necessarily statistically but energy wise and when you bring that energy the stats follow with it and that’s what we had today with our bench. I thought we did a pretty good job of rebounding and Woodbridge, with Steve (Coach Scoggin) does a very good job of trying to speed you up a times and changing defenses. That’s when they went on their run. We let them dictate the pace of the game.”

Woodbridge (5-7) was led by Stephen Lamp, who had 14 points and JC Schindler, who had 10 points.

Trabuco Hills held a 49-40 lead after three quarters but Woodbridge tried to make a late run cutting the lead to 54-47 with 3:15 left on a 3-pointer by Ethan Fu. But Duckens sealed the win with a 3-pointer with 1:15 left.

“They came out ready to play, they were tough,” said Scoggin, the Woodbridge coach. “You’ve got to give them credit, they get down and they guard and they run their stuff correctly. They were smart enough to find the open guy.

“I thought we battled, JC (Schindler) is struggling from the offensive end but he gives it his all, he’s playing with a banged up knee right now. We just didn’t shoot the ball the way we wanted to and the way we’ve been shooting, but a lot of that goes to Trabuco and their defense. It was a tough loss, but the guys competed; that’s all you can ask for.”

The tournament at Woodbridge and Portola continues on Friday and wraps up Saturday at Portola.

Also Wednesday night:

PORTOLA 70, LAGUNA BEACH 46: The Bulldogs (6-1) won their second straight game at the Mariko Memorial Classic. Devin Daniel had 18 points, Colin Huang 16 points and Ryan Chu 10 points. Dylan McEachern had 13 points and Jack Halvorson 12 points to lead Laguna Beach (3-6).

Portola will face Tesoro Friday at 7 p.m.

TESORO 55, EDISON 47: The Titans (6-1) were led by Carson Brown who had 20 points, four rebounds and two blocks; Nathan Draper, who had 11 points and five rebounds and Blake Manning who had nine points and six assists.

In another tournament game Wednesday, La Habra defeated San Clemente 59-50.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com