Prep Basketball : Empire League : El Dorado Too Fast for Esperanza, 78-67 : Golden Hawks Advance to 3-A Playoffs by Beating Taller Rival for Final Berth

Speed won out over size as El Dorado High School beat Esperanza, 78-67, to claim third place in the Empire League and advance to the Southern Section 3-A playoffs.

El Dorado, Esperanza and Cypress all finished league play with 5-5 records. Cypress won a coin flip Friday morning and finishes second. El Dorado advances because it beat Esperanza in both meetings this season.

El Dorado is 12-10 overall. Esperanza finishes 10-11.

The Golden Hawks won Friday night in front of a capacity crowd at Esperanza largely because they were able to combat the Aztecs’ height advantage with quickness.

A 7-0 streak by El Dorado in the final three minutes of the first half gave the Golden Hawks a 33-22 lead. And that was all the opening El Dorado needed.

Mike Bradach, a sophomore reserve guard, had a follow shot, a steal and a layup to key the streak.

Esperanza played El Dorado even the rest of the game. The teams each had 18 and 27 points in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.

“(Esperanza’s) advantage was size, ours was quickness,” El Dorado Coach Wayne Carlson said. “Early on, they played well inside. We wanted to get them running.

“We’re really lucky (to be in the playoffs). We lost four league games in a row and we’re still in the race.”

El Dorado lost to Los Alamitos, the league champion, twice, and two other games on a last-second shot at the buzzer.

The up-tempo game suited El Dorado well, especially after the first quarter.

Esperanza led only once, 16-14, just before the end of the first quarter. The Aztecs scored all of their 16 points in the quarter from inside the key area.

After that, though, El Dorado’s Charles Stevens and Chris Facione were able to slip past the taller Esperanza players. Stevens had 21 points and Facione 19 to lead the Golden Hawks.

Facione, who had two points in the first half, got going in the third and fourth quarters. He had 13 in the fourth quarter, including two three-point shots that kept El Dorado’s lead in double figures.

Guard Rob Nay led Esperanza with 21 points, most on twisting shots inside the key. Gary Brushwyler added 15, including three three-pointers to keep Esperanza reasonably close in the fourth quarter.

El Dorado led, 51-42, to start the fourth quarter. But, thanks to Facione, the Golden Hawks extended their lead to 16 points, 70-54, with 2:36 left. Facione, a senior forward, had 12 of his team’s 18 points during the run.

Stevens and Mike Brooks, a senior guard who scored 11 points, made their free throws down the stretch to keep Esperanza a bay.

Los Alamitos 82, Cypress 52--Though it lost at Los Alamitos, Cypress (8-14, 5-5) won a coin-flip Friday morning and advances to the playoffs as the league’s second representative. Greg Bedford and Bond Weaver had 18 and 12 points, respectively, for Cypress.

Dre Lamoureux scored 28 points to lead the Griffins (19-6, 10-0). Los Alamitos got off to a 16-5 first-quarter lead and extended it to 41-26 at halftime. Point guard Brett Pagett scored 10 and had 8 assists for the Griffins.

Katella 47, Loara 38--Brian Yourstone scored a game-high 14 points to lead Katella (8-14, 4-6), which missed the playoffs for the first time in 22 seasons. Dave Scott scored nine points for Katella. Loara ends the season 5-16, 1-9.