Prep Basketball : Southern Section 5-A Playoffs : Compton Turns Back Rally by Fountain Valley

Through three quarters of Friday night’s Southern Section 5-A playoff game, Fountain Valley High School was outrun, outshot and generally outplayed by a Compton team it had beaten in a nonleague game in December.

Then came the fourth quarter, and what had looked to be a Compton blowout suddenly became a struggle. Using a lineup that seemed to be held together with elastic bandages, the Barons began a comeback that saw them outscore Compton, 19-9, over the first 6:54 of the fourth quarter.

But it wasn’t enough. Not when the Barons entered the final period trailing by 15 points, and certainly not when Compton was adept at clinging to the lead from the free-throw line. The Tarbabes had only one field goal in the fourth quarter but made 15 of 18 free throws to hold on for a 61-51 victory at Fountain Valley.

Danny Morris made two free throws with 38 seconds left and Donnell Roundtree hit three in the final 29 seconds to enable the Tarbabes to maintain the lead.

Compton (16-7) advances to next Friday’s quarterfinals against top-seeded Mater Dei, a 66-42 victor over Verbum Dei.

Barry Heads had a game-high 23 points for Compton, and Danny Morris added 20, including seven fourth-quarter free throws. Those points were precious, considering the way Fountain Valley rediscovered the offense it had been missing most of the game.

After making 9 of 38 shots from the field in the first three quarters, the Barons were 10 of 15 in the fourth. The reason for the turnaround, according to Fountain Valley Coach Dave Brown:

“We went to our quickness.”

Loosely translated, that meant the Barons went to players who could still walk without a noticeable limp. Lance Zeno, usually a starting forward for the Barons, tore ligaments in his right ankle in practice Wednesday and was not in uniform. Point guard Simon Thomas started, his right knee heavily wrapped, but limped off the floor late in the third quarter with only two points. He spent the rest of the game on the bench, a towel draped over the knee he had arthroscopic surgery on earlier this year.

“Simon was obviously hurting,” Brown said. “We thought he would be able to play, but he couldn’t. That meant we were without two-fifths of our starting lineup against a pretty good team.”

What remained wasn’t exactly a picture of health. Guard Scott Emerson had his right thigh wrapped. Ditto for reserve guard Todd Hanson’s right thigh. Eric Zeno played with a brace on his left knee. Brent Martin led Baron scorers with 18 points, all scored with a brace on his left knee. None were hobbled as much as Lance Zeno and Thomas, but the slightest limp was magnified against a Compton team with no shortage of physical talent.

The Tarbabes outscored Fountain Valley, 9-0, at the outset of the second quarter to take a 23-10 lead. Heads had 16 points at halftime, hitting 7 of 12 shots from the floor.

“We tried two or three different things with him, but we just weren’t assertive enough,” Brown said.

Compton Coach Eddie Thomas said his biggest concern before the game was finding a way to keep the ball out of the hands of Martin, who had 16 points and 11 rebounds in the Barons’ 37-36 win over Compton in December. Martin had 12 points in the first half, but was limited to 6 in the second. That, Brown said, is partially attributable to Fountain Valley’s patchwork lineup.

“The injuries made it real tough on Martin,” Brown said. “They just got tighter and tighter on him as the game progressed.”

Guards Carlos Briceno and Scott Emerson led Fountain Valley’s comeback effort, combining for 14 points in the fourth quarter.

Thomas was relieved to survive the Barons’ threat, but afterward turned his attention to his next opponent: Mater Dei.

“I want to play them,” he said. “I think they’re beatable. I don’t know if we can beat them, but if we do some things intelligently . . .”