PHOTOS: Portola races past Woodbridge 60-39 and earns a share of first PCL crown

Portola’s Robert Giraldy (No. 3) and his teammates thank the students and other supporters for their support. (Photos Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)

Portola’s boys basketball team had plenty of reasons to celebrate Tuesday night.

But the Bulldogs decided to hold off for a couple days after clinching a share of their first Pacific Coast League title with a 60-39 victory over Woodbridge at Portola.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

After the game, Portola players went across the court to thank their student supporters, but there was no big celebration. The fans were pretty subdued for most of the game, too.

“To share it us a huge accomplishment,” said Portola Coach Brian Smith. “Being open for four years, and second year of varsity, credit to our guys and all the work they’ve done and not giving up.

“We had a time this year when we lost six games in a row and we lost six games by a total of 14 points, so the fact that they didn’t give up and they believed in each other and the coaching staff is a testament to what these guys have been doing the last three years. It sets a good mark going forward. We still want to get one more so we can be outright league champs, so we got to get to work tomorrow.”

Portola (16-11, 8-1) won its first crown in its second year of varsity competition and remains one game ahead of defending champion Beckman, which defeated University 79-72 on Tuesday. Portola can win the title outright with a victory over Irvine Thursday at Irvine.

Beckman (15-12, 7-2) hosts Northwood Thursday and would need to win and hope that Irvine (6-21, 0-9) pulls off an upset over Portola to earn a share of the league title.

Mohsen Hashemi scored 19 points and Robert Giraldy added 10 points to lead the Bulldogs.

Woodbridge needed to win to keep its slim CIF playoff hopes alive in Coach John Halagan’s last season. The Warriors (5-20, 3-6) were led by Steven Mimpaya, who had 10 points and Nygle Williams and Josh Lomboy, who had eight points each.

Hashemi set the tone, scoring the first seven points of the game and helping the Bulldogs move out to a 32-19 halftime lead.

“We’re super excited,” Hashemi said. “We just wanted a banner in here. It’s been empty forever and football bringing one now and basketball bringing one now.

“My teammates do a great job of looking for me and getting me the ball when I’m open, and it’s literally all them. They’re the ones who always find me open.”

Woodbridge, which has had a tough year, had more setbacks with the loss of players due to illness.

“We were depleted,” said Halagan, the Warriors coach. “Illness hit us at the wrong time. We had one starter, Eli Hill, out and Steven Mimpiya played his tail off but he was not 100 percent tonight. Marcus Hooshmand was playing sick and JC Crosby was hurt and Elijah Kim was sick.

“They’ve been a pleasure to coach. I’m just not happy obviously with the fact that it’s been a tough year from a won-loss standpoint. But it had nothing to do with our kids’ effort. They’ve really come in and worked every day and really acquitted themselves well in terms of being good teammates and being coachable kids and playing for each other. I thought we played really hard tonight. We took some gambles in the third quarter….with some double teaming. Give Portola credit, they move the ball well and they found shooters.

“There’s a reason why they’re at the top of the league. They’re experienced, they’re skilled and Brian does a great job with them, they’re prepared and well coached.”

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