Poway Gets in Gear With 58-50 Win

Before Poway High could seek an unprecedented third straight San Diego Section 3-A boys’ basketball championship, the obstacle was El Capitan in Saturday night’s semifinals.

It didn’t seem like it would be much of a challenge, considering Poway had won by 33 points when the teams previously met. But challenge took on a true meaning when Poway trailed in the semifinals, 48-46, with 4:05 remaining.

During a timeout, Poway Coach Neville Saner told his team to create turnovers defensively and show more motion offensively. And so the Titans did.

Poway scored 12 of the game’s last 14 points to defeat the Vaqueros, 58-50, before a capacity crowd at Serra.

“We didn’t look past them,” Saner said. “We didn’t play poorly. El Cap played well.”

The Titans (23-3) will meet Serra (23-3) for the 3-A championship at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Sports Arena.

For much of the semifinal game, it appeared El Capitan would be playing Serra. The Vaqueros never trailed until Poway’s Andy Byrne hit a 14-foot jump shot with 5:17 left in the third quarter, giving the Titans a 36-34 lead.

The lead exchanged hands three more times before Poway went ahead for good in the final 2 1/2 minutes.

After El Capitan’s timeout with 4:05 remaining, the Vaqueros had possession at midcourt. Poway stole the inbounds pass and got the ball to Byrne for a layup with four minutes remaining, tying the game, 48-48.

Neither team scored on its next possession. Byrne gave Poway a permanent lead, 50-48, on a 10-foot baseline shot with 2:37 remaining.

Gary Anderson provided Poway a 52-48 lead on two free throws with 2:08 remaining. Aaron Johnson broke a three-minute dry spell for El Capitan with two free throws nine seconds later.

The Vaqueros had turned the ball over on four straight possessions before Johnson’s free throws.

“We put a little more pressure on them and got a little more enthused,” Saner said. “It was getting down near the end. Let’s just say we rose to the occasion.”

After Johnson’s free throws pulled El Capitan within two points, Poway spread out its offense. On the next two Titan possessions, Aaron Silveyra scored uncontested layups.

“They were in a zone and we wanted to spread them out,” Saner said. “They didn’t want to go man-to-man. That spread helped us considerably.”

El Capitan (19-5) had led by six points on four occasions in the first half. Steve Burroughs, who scored a team-high 20 points, had 16 points in the first half.

Dominick Johnson’s hot shooting kept Poway in the game at the outset. Johnson scored 19 of his game-high 22 points in the first half. He also had a game-high 10 rebounds.