Prep Basketball : Southern Section 3-A Roundup : El Dorado Rallies to Eliminate Fullerton

Jim Mansfield’s 12-foot bank shot with 42 seconds remaining Friday night gave El Dorado High School the lead for good and the Golden Hawks rallied to beat Fullerton, 64-59, in the opening round of the Southern Section 3-A playoffs at Placentia.

El Dorado held the lead through most of the first three quarters but Fullerton staged a fourth-quarter rally that saw the Indians outscore El Dorado, 13-5, and tie the score at 56 with 3:07 left.

Fullerton went ahead, 59-58, on a layup by R.J. Hamblin with 1:11 to go and had an opportunity to add to the lead with 57 seconds remaining. But Chris Zerga missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity. Fullerton got the rebound, but turned the ball over to set up Mansfield’s basket. Dan Bailey sank a pair of free throws with 11 seconds left and Jim Sammon scored with three seconds remaining to cap the Hawks’ rally.

Sammon led all scorers with 25 points on 12-of-17 shooting and Mansfield added 16 points. El Dorado (22-3) shot 62% from the field. Ralph Tallant led the Indians (15-10) with 15 and teammate Richard Carnesi had 13.

In other 3-A playoff action:

Nogales 56, Troy 49--John Nichols scored 14 points to lead the Nobles to a come-from-behind, first-round victory over the Warriors at Troy.

Nichols’ steal and dunk with 51 seconds left in the third quarter put Nogales in the lead for good at 38-36. Early in the fourth quarter, Nichols made two jump shots to increase the Nogales’ lead to 42-36 and Troy never got closer than five points after that.

Bruce Wheatley, Tim Wells and Lawrence Jones had 12 points for Nogales, while Troy was led by Shawn Flynn, who had 14. Nogales, the No. 21 team from the Sierra League, improved its record to 21-6 while the Warriors, the No. 2 team from the Freeway League, ended its season 10-13.

Katella 81, Buena Park 63--Dave Linker scored 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as the Knights routed the Coyotes at Buena Park. The victory sends the Knights (20-4), the third-place finisher in the Empire League, into Tuesday’s second round. Linker, a 6-foot 3-inch senior, made four free throws in the final nine seconds of the first half and then scored on a layup off the opening tip of the second half to turn a 38-37 Katella lead into a 44-37 advantage.

The Coyotes had four players in double figures. Reggie Brown led with 19 points, Aurelio Solis added 15, Joel Masinsin 13 and Omar Rodriguez 11. Don Yourstone had 19 points for Buena Park.

Bonita 47, Valencia 44--The score was tied, 17-17, at halftime but the favored Bearcats dominated the second half and beat the Tigers at Bonita.

Norman Nakawaki led Valencia with 15 points and Chris Rojo added 10. The Hacienda League champion Bearcats, who made 16 of 28 field goal attempts, are now 22-4. Valencia, the No. 3 team from the Orange League, ended its season at 16-10.

Kennedy 69, Centennial 64 (2 OT)--Darrin Queen scored a basket with less than a minute left in double overtime, and Brett Bissell clinched it with a basket and a free throw as the Irish downed Centennial, 69-64.

Queen, a 6-3 junior forward, who had just eight points in the game, stole a pass with 44 seconds left in the second overtime and drove for the game-winning layup. Bissell then hit the front end of a one and one with eight seconds left and then rebounded and scored on his missed second shot to give the Irish their margin of victory.

Montclair 85, Rancho Alamitos 69--Gary West scored 25 points and teammate Romarian Naulis added 19 to lead the Cavaliers to a 85-69 first-round playoff victory over the Vaqueros at Garden Grove.

The Cavaliers (17-8) broke open a tight game in the first half as they ran off 14 straight points to take a 22-16 lead early in the second quarter. West scored 13 points in the first half and Montclair’s tough man-to-man defense in the second quarter proved too much for Rancho Alamitos.

John Hong led all Vaquero scorers with 17 points as the Garden Grove League champions ended its season at 13-10.

HH Wilson 70, Garden Grove 65--The Argonauts were up by three points with 5:05 left in the game, but the Wildcats’ Scott Richardson converted a three-point play to tie the game. Hacienda Heights Wilson then went on to score five unanswered points to take the lead and eventually win.