Senior Jake Longstreth said it perfectly when he said the Laguna Blanca boys basketball team is “playing with house money.”
The Owls didn’t even make the playoffs, sliding in after fellow Condor League squad Dunn pulled out due to a school vacation. Laguna took that inch and has gone a mile with it, defeating No. 5 Orangewood in a huge upset Wednesday to move on to Friday’s 51-44 home win over L.A. Adventist.
“We shouldn’t be in the playoffs in the first place, so we’re just not holding anything back,” said Longstreth, who took two charges in the first half and has been the emotional leader of the young team throughout the season.
Luther Tarver-Burks was the fastest player on the Merovick Gym court, blazing his way to 22 points and a heap of hard-fought rebounds. Connor Murphy chipped in 15 points, while Spencer Mikles added eight.
There were lids on the hoops in the low-scoring first quarter, as Laguna was up 10-5 heading into the second. The Owls extended the lead to 20-9, but the Eagles went on a mini-run that cut the Laguna lead to 22-15 with just over a minute remaining in the half.
Mikles, a freshman, hit a trey at the 1-minute mark which sparked an onslaught for the Owls, as the hosts scored 10 points in 60 seconds to close out the half. He hit another 3-pointer just 15 seconds later on a play that was telling of how far the team has come this year.
Longstreth had the ball down low on a fast break and could have gone up for a contested lay-up, but instead kicked it out to Mikles for the long-ball. It was a senior showing faith in the freshman.
“Our seniors believe in us. I’m glad to be getting the minutes I’m getting and I’m glad he knows I can step up and make the shot,” said Mikles.
Tarver-Burks blew by everybody for a coast-to-coast lay-up on the next Owls possession, and Longstreth got a steal and dished to Tarver-Burks who was fouled with less than a second remaining. He nailed both from the charity stripe to send Laguna into the locker room up 32-15.
The lead stayed safe at around 10 points for most of the second half until the Eagles cut it to six at 48-42 with a minute remaining. L.A. Adventist had had a rough shooting day until the fourth quarter and started to close the gap quickly once the shots began to fall, but it was too late.
Murphy hit three free throws in the final 60 seconds to seal things up.
So what would coach Sal Rodriguez have said if someone told him at the beginning of the season that the team would make the quarterfinals?
“No way. Unbelievable,” he answered with a grin.
The Owls will host Tuesday’s quarterfinal game and will play either 13th-seeded Newbury Park Adventist or fourth-seeded Hesperia Christian.
LAGUNA BLANCA 51, L.A. ADVENTIST 44
L.A. ADVENTIST — Rose 2, Smith 6, Miller 10, Davis 2, Hurrell 15, Todd 6, Baychell 3.
LAGUNA BLANCA — Mikles 8, Murphy 15, Tarver-Burks 22, Bickett 4, Longstreth 2.
L.A. Adventist……5 10 14 15 — 44
Laguna Blanca…..10 22 11 8 — 51
3-point goals — LB 5 (Mikles 2, Tarver-Burks 2, Murphy 1), LA 2 (Smith).
Total fouls — LB 10, LA 19.
