Lakewood advances to bracket championship game with victory over Irvine

Irvine’s Taewon Kim is defended by Lakewood’s Anthony Williams Saturday during the California Live Tournament at Woodbridge. No. 12 is Irvine’s Archit Raul. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Lakewood High School’s boys basketball team jumped out to an early 9-point lead and went on to defeat Irvine 76-63 in the semifinals of the Destination Irvine Bracket at the California Live Tournament Saturday at Woodbridge.

Lakewood will face Rancho Dominguez Sunday at 1 p.m. in the bracket championship game at 1 p.m. at the Irvine High School court number two.

Irvine advanced into the semifinals by defeating Saugus in a 4:45 p.m. game but was unable to carry the momentum into the 8:30 p.m. game vs. Lakewood.

Lakewood led 49-28 at halftime and was in control in the second half, although Irvine played better, outscoring the Lancers by eight.

“It was a good challenge for us and every once in a while you need to run into a brick wall and I think in the first half, we struggled defensively, guarding on-ball, giving up an advantage and it’s hard to play basketball once you’ve given up an advantage,” said Irvine Coach Harry Meussner.

“Ultimately, the lesson is we need to play as one team and not five individuals and it’s totally OK to fail because that’s all part of learning and that’s what we’re trying to work on here, is acceptance and understanding that you’re going to struggle. If you look at the second half, we played much better and we know that we’re better than that score but that’s how basketball goes.

“You only get one chance to prove it so it’s only June and we just move on from here.”

Lakewood, 3-0 in the tourney, was led by Anthony Williams, who had 18 points. Keaton Lewis scored 13 points and Kecedric Dockery 12 points for Lakewood, which sank seven 3-pointers.

Irvine was led by Cooper Stearns, who scored 35 points. Taewon Kim was the only other Vaquero in double figures with 10 points.

Irvine will face Wiseburn Sunday at 11:30 a.m. at the main Woodbridge court.

Also in the Irvine Destination bracket, Woodbridge after winning its opener Friday, dropped two games Saturday. The Warriors lost to Lakewood 66-51 and to Saugus 59-38.

Woodbridge meets PCL rival Beckman Sunday at 12:45 p.m. in the main Woodbridge gymnasium.

St. Margaret’s defeated Otay Ranch 52-44 but lost to Scripps Ranch 56-55 in its second game.

The finals of the tournament for the two brackets will be at the two Irvine High gymnasiums Sunday. There will be other games at Woodbridge, Tustin and Capistrano Valley.

All teams played two games Saturday and finish with one game on Sunday.

The inaugural tournament is presented by the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association.

For brackets, scores and schedules of the 10 divisions, click here: