SAN DIEGO PREP BASKETBALL : El Camino Wakes Up Just in Time

For three quarters Tuesday night, San Pasqual High’s strategy worked.

The Eagles slowed the tempo and made the El Camino High fast break look slow at best. It appeared the Eagles, which trailed by only two late in the third, could pull off the second upset in El Camino’s gym in four days.

But in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats showed why they are the third-ranked team in San Diego County, beating San Pasqual 75-60 and clinching first place in the Avocado League with one game to play.

After three sluggish quarters, El Camino, which had been upset by visiting Ramona Friday night, got its game together. The Wildcats (10-1 in league, 21-3 overall)scored 31 points in the final period, only 13 fewer than they had scored in the first three periods.

“(Slow tempo) is not to our advantage,” said El Camino Coach Ray Johnson. “We were walking the ball up the floor. I told the kids to push it up in the fourth quarter.”

The increased tempo in the final period helped El Camino in several ways.

First, the Wildcats could take better shots on the end of the fast break; they made 10 of 13 field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter. And it caused the tired Eagles to foul more. El Camino capitalized, making 11 of 15 free throws.

The free-throw shooting was a marked improvement over the first three periods of play. El Camino, which led 9-2 at one point, could have opened a big lead in the first quarter, but made only 2 of 9 foul shots. Consequently, Rich Prusinski’s three-point play with 13 seconds left in the quarter tied the score for the Eagles, 12-12.

El Camino made only 3 of 11 first-half free throws. The Wildcats made 16 of 25 in the second half. After leading 35-33 halfway through the third period, the Wildcats led 44-35 as the fourth quarter began.

Prusinski had dominated the game through three quarters, and his inside play put the El Camino forwards in foul trouble. All three starters, Steve Heard, Ken Crawford and Scott Oatsvall had four fouls early in the fourth quarter. Prusinski had 19 points after 24 minutes.

El Camino finally found a way to stop him in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats came back with a 2-3 zone after playing man-to-man the entire game. They swarmed Prusinski, who took only two fourth-quarter shots, when he had the ball and forced him to pass. The next time Prusinski scored was with 1:24 left. By then, the Wildcats had the game in control.

“We tried everybody on him,” Johnson said. “And everybody picked up fouls. When we went to the zone, that made the difference. He’s hard to stop. He’s a great player.”

San Pasqual’s tight1-3-1 defense appeared to confuse El Camino. El Camino guards Randy Hale and Edmund Johnson were forced to pass the ball around the perimeter rather than dumping it inside to Crawford or Heard. Crawford had three field goals in the first half, but all were on outside shots. Heard, who finished with 15, had only 6 in the first half.

Prusinski had 21 and Bruce Bill had 11 for San Pasqual. Guard Kevin Taylor made his five shots in the second half and had 10 points for El Camino. Teammate Edmund Johnson had 14 points.

The loss drops San Pasqual out of the league race.