Irvine and Woodbridge win setting up rematch Friday in PCL post-season tourney

Woodbridge and Irvine compete in the first round regular season PCL game. (FILE PHOTO: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Irvine and Woodbridge boys basketball teams each captured home victories Thursday night in the Pacific Coast League post-season tournament to move into the championship semifinals of the tournament Friday night at Irvine.

Irvine defeated Woodbridge 43-37 in a PCL regular season game but the Warriors’ standout guard Jaiden Sabino missed the game with a fractured hand. Sabino is back in the lineup and has been scoring at a high clip.

The top four teams from the league earn automatic CIF playoff berths. Top-seeded Portola earned one of them with a win over St. Margaret’s Thursday night.

Also on Friday, Portola hosts Sage Hill, University plays at Laguna Beach and Northwood hosts St. Margaret’s.

The finals are on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The last four games will all be played at Woodbridge Tuesday.

IRVINE 59, UNIVERSITY 54: Irvine escaped at home with a hard fought victory over University. Irvine won the regular season matchup at home, 57-23, but this time University came to play. In a first quarter marred by 14 turnovers, the Trojans led 14-10 with just over two minutes left in the period. The Vaqueros then went on a 22-6 run to lead 32-20 at halftime.

Over the first five minutes of the third quarter, University countered with a 13-4 run to cut the lead to 36-33. But over the next five plus minutes, the Vaqueros responded with a 14-7 advantage to up the margin to 50-40 with the game seemingly in hand. University sophomores Lucas Haun and Yousuf Chalan caught fire, each scoring eight points in the fourth quarter and helped the Trojans to a 53-52 lead with 1:32 to play.

With the game knotted at 54-54, junior guard Chase Brito hit a 3-pointer from the corner with 39 seconds to play which helped Irvine to win the game.

The Vaqueros (16-10) had four players scoring in double figures. Brito led with 20 points and four 3-pointers. Senior guard Jalen Yim had 12 points and three 3-pointers, junior center Evan Terakawa scored 11 points and junior swingman Holden Stearns added 10 points.

University (6-18, 2-5) will travel to Laguna Beach in a Friday night consolation semifinal. Haun was the game’s leading scorer with 22 points on six for seven 3-pointers (both career highs). Haun added six rebounds and three steals.

Yousuf Chalan had 18 points, six rebounds and three steals. His brother Nader Chalan scored seven points. Junior reserve guard Josh Kagawan had a solid floor game with three points, five assists and four steals. Junior center Abdallah Shami was limited to two points, but did have 10 rebounds and six steals.

—Courtesy Daryl Bogard, For OC Sports Zone

WOODBRIDGE 63, LAGUNA BEACH 28: Garrett DiCostanzo had 20 points, Zacc Saleh 11 points and Jahan Adloo 10 points to lead Woodbridge (17-9), coached by Steve Scoggin. The Warriors have won four games in a row.

Finals:

Portola 87, St. Margaret’s 44

Sage Hill 45, Northwood 33