Poway Gives Crenshaw a Scare but Cougars Hold On for 82-73 Win

There’s a lot of depth on the Crenshaw High School bench, all right. All the way down to the coaches.

With 1 1/2 minutes left Thursday in its game against Poway at Cal State Dominguez Hills, things weren’t looking good for Crenshaw. The defense wasn’t getting back on the fast break. The offense was taking bad shots. The concentration was lacking.

So, a whole chorus of Crenshaw coaches were standing and shouting instructions in an effort to help the Cougars avert an upset.

There was reason for Willie West and assistants Joe Weakley and Maurice Duckett to be nervous when Erin Silveyra made a free throw to cap a three-point play. It brought Poway, the three-time San Diego Section 3-A champion, to within two points and threatened the anticipated meeting between Crenshaw and Mater Dei.

The show will go on, though. The Cougars held off the Poway rally, scoring nine of the last 11 points to win, 82-73, in a semifinal game of the Boys’ Division I Southern Regional and set up Saturday’s meeting with Mater Dei.

“Maybe we needed a scare,” West said. “We got a couple before (during the season), but maybe this will help us.”

Said Poway forward Jud Buechler: “I think we had them a little scared at the end.”

That’s safe to say. Crenshaw (23-2) led by nine, 73-64, after Dion Brown’s jump shot with 2:49 left, but Poway came right came back. Dominick Johnson, who combined with Buechler for 55 of the Titans’ 77 points in Tuesday’s quarterfinal win over Muir, got two straight baskets and then Silveyra’s three-point play made it 73-71.

Only then did the Cougars take control for good. Ronald Caldwell came through with a three-pointer of his own and Troy Batiste made two free throws to push the advantage back to seven, 78-71.

“We had a shot there,” said Poway Coach Neville Saner, who played at UCLA during the late 60s. “We had to play some ‘D’ down there at the other end and hoped they did not score. Unfortunately for us, they did.”

Guard Stephen Thompson, playing with a bruised thigh in addition to an injured finger on his shooting hand, led all scorers with 34 points, while Caldwell added 18, Brown 13 and Batiste 10 for Crenshaw.

Poway (26-4) got 30 from Buechler, 26 from Johnson and 9 from Silveyra.

“In spite of the way we played,” West said, “we played hard enough to win. And that’s the bottom line.”