ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL : Katella Tournament : Millikan Plan Works as Lucas Can’t Do It All for Katella, 68-54

You don’t need a program to figure out Katella High School’s dominant player. Richard Lucas is hard to miss at 6-feet 7-inches.

Likewise, you don’t need a chalkboard to draw a defensive strategy against the Knights. Stop Lucas and you stop Katella.

While Lucas’ name wasn’t listed in the Katella Tournament program, there was no way Millikan could overlook the presence of the Knights’ talented senior center, who scored 21 points and grabbed 20 rebounds despite being double-teamed in Tuesday’s championship final.

But it wasn’t enough as Millikan’s team balance and Katella’s lack of same proved the difference in the Rams’ 68-54 victory.

“The double team was something new for us since we usually play a straight man-to-man defense,” Millikan coach Bill Odell said. “But they seem to be awfully one-dimensional so we were determined to stop Lucas and force their other guys to play basketball instead of just passing the ball around.”

The strategy worked. While Lucas worked his way free to hit 7 of 11 shots, including three slam dunks, the rest of the Knights were a combined 16 for 49 from the floor. Tom Villanueva was the only other Katella player to score in double figures and all 11 of his points came in the second half after the Knights trailed by 10 points.

Katella made a late run when Villanueva keyed a 15-7 spurt that cut the gap to 58-50 with 3:22 remaining. But the Knights missed five of six outside jumpers the rest of the way.

In other action:

Rancho Alamitos 70, Servite 62--Randy Morales scored 28 points and Craig Paquette scored 26 to lead the Vaqueros (5-5) to the consolation championship. Tony Smalley (16) and Nick Marusich (17) led the Friars.

Gahr 61, Los Amigos 55--Shawn Jamison scored 21 points and 7 rebounds to lead the Gladiators (5-7) to third place. Gene Altamirano scored 24 points for the Lobos (6-5).