Basketball Recap: California Takes Down Laguna Hills in a Playoff Battle

California extended their postseason success on Friday against Laguna Hills. They came out on top in a nail-biter against the Laguna Hills Hawks, sneaking past 74-71. That result was just more of the same for these two, as the Condors also won the last time the pair played back in December of 2017.

Edgar Beltran

Steals

11/26/24 vs Santa Ana	8
02/14/25 @ Laguna Hills	7
01/24/25 vs Santa Fe	7
12/26/24 @ Temple City	7
12/06/24 @ University	7
+ 24 more games

Edgar Beltran was his usual excellent self, on his way to 15 points and seven steals. California is 11-3 when Beltran posts five or more steals, but 4-12 otherwise. Aham Nwosu was another key player, putting up 15 points.

Several Hawks players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Myles Mittelsteadt, who almost dropped a double-double with 25 points and nine boards. The game was Mittelsteadt's third in a row with at least 17 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Jackson Burnham, who almost dropped a triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists.

The victory got California back to even at 15-15. As for Laguna Hills, their loss dropped their record down to 16-14.

California didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next match, a 66-64 win against Chino on the 18th. Laguna Hills does not have any more games scheduled as of now.