PHOTOS: Clutch three-pointers lift Portola to tournament victory over Trabuco Hills

Ryan Chu (left) and Devin Daniel led Portola to a victory Saturday. (Photos: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Portola High School’s boys basketball team held off a late charge by Trabuco Hills to capture a 63-56 victory in the final game of the Mariko Memorial Classic at Portola Saturday.

The Bulldogs (7-2 overall) finished 3-1 in the tournament, which had a pre-determined schedule. No champion was crowned.

“When both teams are working as hard as they were and both teams are able to drive, that kick is out there sometimes and that’s kind of today’s game,” said Portola Coach Brian Smith. “There are a lot of three’s being shot and our guys are confident. We’ve been giving guys a lot of green lights to shoot.

“Fortunately, we were able to knock some down tonight.”

To see the slide show, click on the first picture:

Jack Warnick of Trabuco Hills looks for an open player as Portola's Ryan Chu defends.

Colin Huang of Portola passes the ball to teammate Brandon Chang.

Ryan Chu of Portola takes a jumper as Matt Mowers of Trabuco Hills defends.

Ryan Chu led Portola with 23 points and five 3-pointers. Devin Daniel had 19 points and three 3-pointers. Portola had 12 3-pointers as a team.

“They needed it because they’ve both been in kind of a shooting slumps the last couple of weeks so to be able to get some shots knocked down today was important for us,” Smith said.

Portola’s only loss in the tournament was to Tesoro, 84-70 on Friday night.

“It was a good week. I was happy with the way we responded after the game with Tesoro because we put a lot of energy into that game yesterday and Tesoro is just a great team and we followed up with another great team in Trabuco Hills,” Smith said. “Every time we play them, it’s a dogfight. We always joke it’s always going to come down to two possessions and tonight was no different.”

Portola jumped out to a 13-3 lead in the opening minutes mainly on 3-pointers. But Trabuco Hills regrouped and led 16-15 after one quarter.

Portola had a 31-26 lead at halftime and extended the lead to 15 points midway through the third quarter.

However Trabuco Hills (5-3) battled back and cut the lead to 56-54 on a 3-pointer by Matt Mowers with 4:10 left. But the Bulldogs Kim hit a 3-pointer to push the lead to 61-54 with 2:30 left and held on for the win.

Nate Tuttle had 15 points, Jack Warnick 13 points and Colin Duckens 10 points to lead Trabuco Hills, which made nine 3-pointers.

Coach Sean Sullens team went 2-2 in the tournament.

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