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Scores and stats from Orange County games on Friday, Feb. 6

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GIRLS WATER POLO

CIF-SS PLAYOFFS

DIVISION 1

Round 1

San Clemente 14, Huntington Beach 6

Santiago/Corona 10, Los Alamitos 8

Beckman 19, Alta Loma 5

Laguna Beach 14, Sunny Hills 8

Foothill 13, Buena 6

BOYS BASKETBALL

West Coast Baptist College Tournament

Suburban Christian (IN) 58, Newport Christian 48

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Standings for the Orange County girls basketball leagues through Thursday, Feb. 5.

LOS ANGELES — Luka Doncic is set to miss the Lakers’ prime-time matchup against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday night with a left hamstring strain, the team announced Friday evening.

Doncic, the NBA’s leading scorer at 32.8 points per game, turned the ball over with just under four minutes left in the second quarter in the Lakers’ comeback win against the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday night. When the Slovenian star pivoted to go play defense at the other end of the court, he grabbed at his left hamstring.

Fewer than 30 seconds later, he hobbled off the court and did not return to the game. Doncic had 10 points, four rebounds and five turnovers in 16 minutes before leaving for the locker room and did not speak to the media after the game.

“He didn’t feel like it was good enough to go back in [to the game],” Coach JJ Redick said Thursday night of Doncic’s early exit. “He didn’t feel like it was good enough to go back in. Neither did medical.”

Redick said after the game that Doncic would receive an MRI on his left leg, and on Friday evening, the team announced the diagnosis of a strain. In October, Doncic suffered a sprained left finger and a lower left leg contusion that held him out for a handful of days. In recent weeks, Doncic has grappled with ankle and groin ailments as well; the wear-and-tear of the season emerging just before the All-Star break.

Following the Warriors game, the Lakers have a three-game homestand against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday, the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday and the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday.

Doncic has missed eight games already this season, and the Lakers have gone 4-4 in his absence. Of the 50 games the Lakers have played so far this season, Doncic, LeBron James and Austin Reaves have played together in just 10 of them.

Doncic’s status for next weekend’s All-Star Game remained unchanged as of Friday evening. Doncic led all players in fan balloting, receiving more than 3.4 million votes, and was set to start for the World team in the three-team U.S. vs. the World mini-tournament on Feb. 15 at the Intuit Dome.

In other news, Lakers guard/forward Luke Kennard – whom they acquired from the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for guard Gabe Vincent and a future second-round draft pick – was listed as questionable for Saturday’s game against the Warriors. Rookie forward Adou Thiero (right MCL sprain) remains out.

By now, Americans have gone numb to the ridiculous statements of the president of the United States. While many of the things he says on a daily basis would be disqualifying for most other politicians, supporters of the president want Donald Trump to be graded on a curve.

But thinking people can see that the permission structures built around excusing the president’s often demeaning, often cruel manner of expressing himself have only made American politics more polarized and toxic than they need to be.

A case in point is the president’s Truth Social post on Thursday night: a one-minute video pitching the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from him. Toward the end of the video, the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” plays and a clip of Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces superimposed onto apes appears.

The post naturally provoked an uproar about the obvious racism of the depiction, with Gov. Gavin Newsom leading the charge to condemn it. “Disgusting behavior by the President,” the governor posted on X. “Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”

Most Republican members of Congress, unfortunately, care more about their political careers than the dignity of America, so few spoke up. Even so, the president appeared to have pulled the video. But he did so only after spokesperson Karoline Leavitt offered utterly specious and demonstrably false excuses for the post, calling the responses to the video “fake.”

“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from ‘The Lion King,’” she told Newsweek. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”

There are some in MAGA world who might find that explanation sufficient, but we suspect most Trump supporters, after even the briefest of introspection, can see the problem with excusing a racist depiction of the Obamas as “fake.”

In addition to that, Americans across the political spectrum should be troubled by the president’s ongoing fixation with the 2020 presidential election. He lost that election. Every state and local jurisdiction certified their respective election results. No outcome-altering fraud has ever been found. Dozens of lawsuits were tossed, including by Trump-appointed judges.

The president’s ridiculous and conspiratorial response to the 2020 election no doubt played a role in losing two Republican Senate seats in Georgia in 2021 and then whipped his supporters into enough of a frenzy that they stormed the United States Capitol to disrupt the certification of the electoral votes.

We say this as an editorial board that remains, as ever, committed to fiscal responsibility, limited government, civil liberties, personal freedom and free markets. Americans must hold the president to a higher standard and stop excusing him like a misbehaving child from a broken home. He is a 79-year-old man and the president of the United States. The failure to do so has only cheapened our nation and risks our future as a beacon for the world.

Trinity League football is a rough neighborhood.

Half of the league’s coaches got wiped out within the past two months.

First to go was Victor Santa Cruz at JSerra.

He had experience as a college head coach and is a great people-person. JSerra was 14-18 over his three seasons at the school. The Lions finished 3-7 overall and 0-5 in the Trinity League last season. The team was outscored 402-223, including giving up 257 points in five league games, so Santa Cruz was fired.

Next to go was Rod Sherman at Orange Lutheran.

Sherman was ousted this week. Orange Lutheran was 3-9 overall this past season, including two forfeits that had been wins before it was discovered the Lancers used an ineligible player in those games. The team went 1-4 in the Trinity League.

His five-year record with the Lancers was 33-29 overall and 10-16 in league games, which are good results in the best high school football league in the nation.

Then came the news Tuesday that Chris Reinert had resigned as Servite’s coach. The Friars were 20-16 overall and 4-11 in league during the three-year tenure of Reinert, a guy who loves Servite so much that he has the school crest tattooed on his back. Servite finished the 2025 season 6-5 overall and 2-3 in league.

The grind of what it takes to be competitive in the league and keep athletes and their parents happy wore on him.

A problem for JSerra and Servite is that their football programs have been bleeding transfers, with perhaps more to be shed in coming days and months.

Mater Dei and St. John Bosco were the top transfer destinations. Santa Margarita is the No. 1 destination now.

Santa Margarita made a big splash when it hired Carson Palmer as head coach last winter. Palmer starred at Santa Margarita and went on to win the Heisman Trophy at USC and forged a long and prosperous NFL career. He led the Eagles to Trinity League, CIF Southern Section and CIF State championships in the fall.

JSerra might be trying to duplicate the formula. It hired ex-NFL star linebacker Hardy Nickerson as its coach. Nickerson coached Bishop O’Dowd of Oakland to a CIF State championship in 2025.

Are there any NFL players headed to Orange Lutheran or Servite?

Probably not. Let’s start by establishing that Alabama high school football coach and part-time pro football quarterback Philip Rivers isn’t coming back to Southern California.

Orange Lutheran candidates could be … and this is in alphabetical order, so don’t get too excited …

Anthony Catalano. He is an assistant head coach at Corona Centennial. He has deep roots at Centennial, having played quarterback there, his brother Dominick just completed a great senior season as the Huskies’ quarterback and sister Giuliana was a basketball star at Centennial. Maybe he waits until longtime head coach Matt Logan moves on and then succeeds Logan?

Ray Fenton. He coached Los Alamitos this past season to the CIF-SS Division 2 championship and has had success elsewhere. Fenton had a happy season in 2025, but he loves a challenge and just might pursue a new one.

Steve Fifita. He was Santa Margarita’s interim coach when the school fired Anthony Rouzier as head coach during the 2024 season and stayed on as defensive coordinator in ‘25. Players love him.

Matt Logan. Centennial’s mega-successful head coach lives in Huntington Beach. He has a great thing going at Centennial – he probably could run for mayor, and win. One day, maybe he is a Trinity League coach, but maybe that day is not coming for a couple of years.

Frank McManus. He was fired as Mater Dei’s football coach after one season, the 2023 season, after many years as an assistant coach there. McManus led the Monarchs to CIF-SS and CIF State titles but he messed up in other categories and was fired. He was hired at Cardinal Newman for the 2025 season, led the team to a league championship and an 11-2 record and maybe lost the rough edges.

Troy Thomas. He was Servite’s head coach for two stints. Thomas fired up a moribund Servite football program when he first arrived there in 2005 and led the Friars to league, section and state championships.

Servite might be going after …

Fifita, Logan and Thomas. See previous for details. And, side note, many alums, especially the younger ones, would love to see Thomas return.

Rick Garretson. Garretson was a football star at Servite and later an assistant coach. He coached Chandler High in Arizona to two state championships before retiring at the end of the 2024 season. Garretson is 71.

Frank Mazzotta. He won his eighth CIF-SS championship at La Habra in 2025. Mazzotta can win with any type of team – a defense-first team or a team that runs the ball or a team that throws the ball. He is kind of like Logan, though, in that he has a great thing going so the desire to leave might be zero.

Rod Sherman. He might be on the short list at Servite. Sherman is known as a high-character man who gets along with everyone.

And all of these possible candidates have one thing in common …

They all know what happened to Victor Santa Cruz, Rod Sherman and Chris Reinert.