Southern Section Boys’ 2-A : Here’s a Switch: Saints Favored Against Lions

El Monte High School basketball Coach John Gillette knows that hardly anyone gives his team a chance in its 2-A championship game against Santa Clara of Oxnard today at 12:30 at the Long Beach Arena, but he doesn’t really care.

“We have our hands full. We know that,” he said. “We’re not expected to win . . . they may take us to the cleaners. If we don’t win, well, we aren’t expected to win, anyway. That’s the way we’re approaching this thing.”

But, he added: “We don’t like losing. We hate losing.”

How good is Santa Clara? The Saints have won 21 straight games and come into the title game with a record of 26-3. Their smallest victory margin in the playoffs has been 10 points, against Agoura in the semifinals. But their record is deceptive, considering the teams that beat them.

They suffered two of their three losses at the hands of 5-A finalist Mater Dei, including a 63-60 overtime thriller in the Tournament of Champions in December. Their other loss was to 4-A finalist Dominguez.

There was never any doubt about the Saints being in this game. They belong here.

El Monte, on the other hand, had to claw its way to the title game.

The Lions have a 20-7 record, but their playoff log includes a one-point victory over Sunkist League champion Banning and an overtime victory over Rio Hondo League champion South Pasadena. They fell behind by 10 against Nordhoff in their semifinal game before rallying to win, 63-56.

To win this game, Gillette believes his team must “make (James) Gama and (Stacey) Cvijanovich earn their points.” Cvijanovich and Gama lead the Saints in scoring, each averaging 18 points a game.

“But if we pay too much attention to them, then (Frank) Ramirez will light up on us,” Gillette said. “We have to make sure that those three players don’t dominate. Otherwise, we will take our runner-up trophy and say thanks for having us.”

Because of its personnel, El Monte basically plays a zone defense. An outside shooting team like Santa Clara usually cannot wait to shoot against a zone.

Gillette hinted, though, that the Lions’ defense could change, since they were able to come back and defeat Nordhoff with a man-to-man defense.

“I was told we could play them (Santa Clara) man,” Gillette said. “We’ll come up with something.”

El Monte played Santa Clara in the first round of last season’s playoffs. The Lions had fallen behind by 17 points by halftime and spent most of the game in foul trouble before losing, 63-46.