IRVINE – Lucas Ip just wanted to contribute, as he does every game. Sometimes it’s good defense, sometimes it’s spreading the ball to teammates, and sometimes it’s throttling an opponent to the point of defeat.
The latter applied on Tuesday when the Portola guard scored 19 points in the first half as the Bulldogs remained undefeated in the Pacific Coast League with a 64-49 victory at Northwood.
The victory gives Portola all the momentum heading into the league tournament. The top-seeded Bulldogs improved to 20-5 overall, 6-0 in league.
It’s the first time in the school’s eight-year varsity history that it has won 20 games. Though the play was hardly pristine, the Bulldogs should feel good about about standing up to the environment at The Den on Northwood’s senior night.
“The thing I’ve been proud of with him in the last few games, when he hasn’t been hitting, he’s been out there directing traffic, playing really good defense,” Portola coach Brian Smith said of Ip. “So, tonight it was really good to see him getting his (points) because he’s been a really good team player the last few games.”
Ip finished with 20 points, which included four 3-point baskets.
Another Portola senior, Max Paulson, added 17 points, including three 3-point baskets.
Portola knocked down 11 of 33 shots from the arc.
“I felt great,” Ip said of his performance in the first half, which included 11 points in the second quarter. “When I got shots up before the game, it was feeling good. My arc was solid, my legs felt pretty fresh, so I knew the first half was my best opportunity to put some points on the board and I thought I did a good job in the first half.”
Portola held a 20-19 lead after one quarter. After trading baskets, the Bulldogs put together an 8-2 run before getting three steals and a turnover, which led to Ip’s layup, 3-pointer and two free throws that helped stretch the lead to 37-23.
Portola led at halftime, 40-27, and Ip had 19 of the 40 points.
Three 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the third quarter – two by Paulsen, one by Gavin Nguyen – stretched the lead to 48-31.
Senior Dane Mortensen led Northwood with a game-high 23 points, but no one else could muster more than six for the Timberwolves.
Northwood played without starter Adrian Elemento, who hyper-extended his elbow while playing Sunday in a pickup game. He’s averaging almost 11 points and shooting 45 percent from the field.
The loss drops Northwood (10-13, 4-3) into the fourth-place seeding position for the PCL tournament that begins Thursday. Irvine finished second and Woodbridge third.
Smith’s postgame praise didn’t stop at Ip and Paulsen. He included bench players Steve Yang (5 points) and Chase Wright, a 6-3 sophomore who fouled out with no points.
“If he had done that last year, he’d have had a breakdown and been really mad,” Smith said of Wright. “But he handled himself, still played hard, and did what he had to do for the team. I was proud of him for that. I told him that he grew a lot in a game like tonight because he controlled himself, and he was a contributor on offense with passing the ball, getting some rebounds, playing hard, and being a presence.”
The whole team will learn something about presence over the next week. Portola will be the No. 1 seed in the league tournament, so it will have a bullseye on its jersey. You can’t be more obvious than that.
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