ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL : Empire League : Katella Has More Reason to Hope This Could Be Its Year

Will this be the season that Katella High School finally wins that elusive Southern Section basketball championship for Coach Tom Danley?

The Knights have qualified for the postseason tournament a record 21 straight seasons under Danley and they’ve reached the title game three times, but they have never won a title.

“We have a good opportunity,” said Danley, after watching his team finish play in the Empire League with a 58-54 victory over Los Alamitos Friday night. “I keep waiting for that year.”

The Knights, who finished first in the eight-team league with a 14-0 record, will likely be seeded second in the 3-A division playoffs behind top-ranked Rolling Hills. Playoff pairings will be announced Sunday.

Katella tuned up for the single-elimination tournament with a typical performance in front of a capacity crowd of 1,800 in the Knights’ gymnasium. Katella applied some strong defensive pressure in the final four minutes, sweeping aside Los Alamitos down the stretch.

Los Alamitos, which finished tied for second with Kennedy at 11-3, wilted under the Knights’ full-court pressure, turning the ball over eight times in the last quarter. At one point, the Griffins failed to get a shot off on five consecutive possessions with the game on the line.

“We have nobody to blame but ourselves,” said Steve Brooks, Los Alamitos coach. “We had five possessions where we didn’t score. We didn’t even get a shot. That was the ballgame.”

The score was tied, 46-46, midway through the final quarter when Katella scored six unanswered points. Brett Smith’s jump shot with 3:32 remaining pushed the Knights ahead, 54-48, and it appeared Katella had clinched another victory.

But Los Alamitos cut the deficit to two points, 54-52, when forward Doug Wadleigh drove for an uncontested layup. That’s when the Griffins self-destructed, throwing the ball away at critical points down the stretch.

Katella center Richard Lucas, who led all scorers with 18 points, made two steals and turned them into easy layups for a six-point cushion, 58-52, with 34 seconds remaining and the familiar cry of “CIF, CIF, CIF” began in the Knights’ student section.

Danley likes his chances. “We’ll get a good seed in the playoffs, which means a couple of gimmes in the first two rounds,” he said. “After that, it becomes a matter of playing our game. With this team, who knows?

“I think it’s quite an accomplishment to go 14-0 in our league with Los Alamitos, Kennedy and Cypress all having good teams. We let it all hang out in the last quarter, and that’s what we’ll have to do for five games if we want to win the championship.”

Kennedy 72, Esperanza 55--Wendell Lauderdale and Michael Keith scored 16 points each to lead the Irish (11-3, 16-7) at home. Kennedy tied with Los Alamitos for second place, but will advance to the 3-A division playoffs after winning a coin flip. Rob Nay scored 21 points to lead Esperanza (5-9, 8-13).

Cypress 43, Loara 33--Frantz Reyes scored 18 points and had 11 rebounds to lead the Centurions to third place in the Empire league at Cypress. Reyes made two dunks including the final basket of the game. Todd Eaton led Loara (1-13) with 11 points. Cypress is 7-7 and 10-13.

El Dorado 58, Pacifica 56--Brian Cardenas scored with two seconds left to lift the Golden Hawks (4-10, 8-14) at Pacifica. Cardenas finished with 25 points. Dustin Bonham led Pacifica (3-11) with 20 points.