Boys’ Prep Basketball Roundup : Overtime Victory Gives El Toro a Second Title

El Toro High School added to the football championship it won Saturday night with another title, first place in the 21st annual San Clemente Basketball Tournament.

Tournament most valuable player Eric Speaker poured in 35 points as El Toro beat Lincoln of San Diego in overtime, 73-69, for the Chargers first victory in five years at the San Clemente High School event.

El Toro (3-1) will get better this week when two football players, point guard Bret Johnson and center Cory Weyland, return to the team. Both are seniors who made the all-South Coast League teams last year.

Speaker scored 32 points in the semifinals against Long Beach Wilson and topped that effort against Lincoln. He hit 10 of 16 shots from the field (including two three-pointers) and 13 of 14 from the free-throw line.

Speakers scored the first four points of overtime, all from the foul line, to give El Toro a 71-67 lead. Center Chari Johnson iced the victory with a slam at the 1:10 mark to put El Toro up by six points.

Foothill 66, Long Beach Wilson 58--Forward Dan Abel scored 23 points and guard Rusty Van Cleave scored all 18 of his points on three-point shots to spark Foothill in the third-place game. The Knights (3-1), who have won the tournament for the past three years, outscored Long Beach Wilson (1-4) 15-6 in the third period. Wilson’s Jody Pruitt scored 21 points, including 17 in the first half.

Savanna 61, San Clemente 32--Eric Shinkle, a 6-9 center, scored 14 points on 7-for-12 shooting to help lift the Rebels to the consolation title. Savanna (4-1) broke the game open by outscoring San Clemente 13-1 to start the second period. Richard Kemple collected 11 points and 10 assists for the Rebels, who dominated the boards and took 19 more shots than the Tritons (1-5). Mike Peters scored a game-high 19 points for San Clemente.

Laguna Beach 64, Capistrano Valley Christian 56--Laguna Beach, which suffers from a lack of height, found a team it could match in size and won the seventh-place game. The Artists (2-5) were led by 6-3 center John McKeown with 17 points, sophomore guard John Trevino with 12 and forward Dain Blanton with 11.

Forward Shane Meiner scored a game-high 16 points for Capistrano Valley Christian (1-3), the only 1-A school in the tournament.

In the Notre Dame Tournament:

Orange Lutheran 78, Notre Dame 35--Orange Lutheran (4-2) won the championship, jumping to a 43-17 halftime lead over host Notre Dame (2-4). Forward Geoff McArthur, the tournament’s most valuable player, had 13 points for Orange Lutheran, and Kelly Black had 17 points and nine rebounds.

In a nonleague game:

Edison 57, Capistrano Valley 51--Forward Chip Hanlon led Edison (3-3) with 15 points and 10 rebounds at Edison. Guard Alvin Loftis added 11 points and Mike Hunter grabbed 10 rebounds for the Chargers. Center Jim Waikle led Capistrano Valley (4-1) with 12 points.