PREP BASKETBALL : Southern Section 3-A Playoffs : It May Have Been Terrible, But Katella Will Take Win

The game was as homely as a Cabbage Patch doll, and nearly as expensive for the Katella High School basketball team.

The Knights would have liked to survived their second-round playoff game in the Southern Section 3-A division in more elegant style.

Only Dave Linker’s inbounds pass to Bob Erbst for a layup with two seconds remaining allowed Katella to defeat Foothill League champion Burbank, 46-45, at Cypress College Tuesday.

No doubt Knight Coach Tom Danley would have just as soon arrived at his first third-round game in five years without riding in on a wave of fuzzy shooting and a flurry of turnovers.

In fact, Danley called it a “terrible” victory, but said he would accept it all the same. The Knights, the Empire League’s third-place representatives (21-4), are the last Orange County team in the 3-A division, and one of only two third-place teams to advance to the quarterfinal.

Katella will face the other third-place team, Damien of the Baseline League (20-8), Friday night.

Danley said the earmarks of a poor outing were all over Tuesday’s game, most noticeably in the fact that Katella scored 37 fewer points Tuesday than in last Friday’s first-round victory.

“I’m not going to tell you the kids weren’t tickled to win, but it was a terrible victory,” Danley said.

“We lost 40 points in just four days, and you could see it in the fact we shot 1 for 7 at the line down the stretch.

“This was a down game for us, and we’ve had several of those this year, but they have not been so critical. But it’s a mark of character that we were able to win.

“I think we can play with anyone in the 3-A. We still have a good chance of being the dark horse team--doing it all.”

Katella has been to the playoffs 19 straight years, but has never won a CIF title.

Burbank (19-5) stole its way back into Tuesday’s game thanks to a fine second half by forward David Neilsen.

Katella led by as many as eight points in the first half (24-16) as both teams suffered through bad shooting spells.

In the first half, the Knights made only 10 of 29 shots, while the Bulldogs provided the crowd of 1,100 with scarcely any relief, making 11 of 28.

Katella held a 27-22 advantage at the half, but Neilsen awoke in the third quarter to rally the Bulldogs to a 35-33 deficit with two minutes left in the quarter. The 6-foot 4-inch senior scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half.

Bulldog Coach Russ Keith said before the game that his team had the edge in quickness, while Katella had the height advantage.

“They have good ball handlers,” Keith said. “But we’ll put a little pressure on them and see what happens.’

What happened was five steals for Burbank in the third quarter. The result was the Knights outscored the Bulldogs, 23-19, through the last two quarters.

With 2:58 remaining in the game, the Bulldogs’ efforts finally paid as they took a 41-39 lead on two free throws by Neilsen.

But Burbank could not extend the advantage, although Katella made only 1 of 7 shots from the free throw line down the stretch.

With 22 seconds left, Knight guard Steve Bennett, normally an excellent free throw shooter, missed two at the foul line after Burbank had moved to 45-43 on a basket by Orlando Cepeda, Jr.

But Cepeda fouled Erbst with 16 seconds left and Erbst responded by making 1 of 2 free throws, allowing Katella to edge within 45-44.

Neilsen subsequently blocked an attempt by Bennett, but knocked the ball out of bounds. The Knights’ Dave Linkler threw the inbounds pass straight underneath to Erbst, who banked it in for the victory.

All Keith would say afterward was, “We should have been better on the boards.” Katella outrebounded the Bulldogs, 28-20.

Neilsen led the Bulldog scoring with 14 points, while Lotka had eight. Erbst was Katella’s high scorer with 15. Bennett added 11.