Woodbridge jumps to early lead against team from Australia and coasts to victory

Players from Churchie and Woodbridge exchange souvenirs before Wednesday’s game. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Woodbridge High School’s boys basketball team had one of those feel good victories Wednesday night in night two of the Portola-Woodbridge Classic at Woodbridge.

The Warriors led from start to finish and everyone on the team played in a 76-49 victory over the Churchie JV team from Australia. The Australia program also has a varsity team in the tournament. Tesoro defeated the varsity team 66-56 in the first game Wednesday at Woodbridge.

“It was really great to have them come out here from Australia,” said Woodbridge Coach Steve Scoggin. “They’re a bunch of great kids and great coaches, couldn’t ask for better players and coaches.”

To see additional photos, click on the first picture:

Players met before the game at mid-court to exchange souvenirs.

Woodbridge (6-3) was clicking on all cylinders against Churchie, jumping to a 25-14 lead after one quarter and a 42-22 lead at halftime.

Junior Jaiden Sabino (four 3-pointers) and sophomore Garrett Dicostanzo led the Warriors with 18 points each. Jason Briggs and Zaccaria Saleh added 10 points each for Woodbridge.

“It was good to get them going and get everyone in,” Scoggin said. “Jason (Briggs) had a rough night, he’s been battling an ankle injury but his leadership on the bench (stood out), he’s probably one of the best captains we’ve had.”

Scoggin was pleased with the play of Diconstanzo.

“We’re looking for that third scorer, he has the capabilities to do it, he’s a young guy, some games he’s on, some games he’s off, today he was on,” Scoggin said. “We got two really good players (Sabino and Briggs) that I know are going to bring it every night and it’s who is going to be that third and fourth guy that is going to step up. We just got to get the experience.”

Woodbridge, 1-1 in the week-long event, meets San Clemente Friday at 7 at Woodbridge and La Habra on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Portola.

Lachlan Maier and Hamish Donkin led Churchie with 12 points each.

The event is part of a USA tour for the Churchie program, which has a couple more games in the Irvine event.

“We had our varsity team play first and they had their moments, we turned the ball over a little too much. These boys (on the JV team) haven’t really played together as a team before,” said Churchie Director Aaron Harding. “They played their butts off and defensively worked really hard, we just got outrebounded and they shot it really, really well. The Woodbridge boys are really good.”

The event continues Thursday and Friday and wraps up Saturday at Portola.

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