Camino No-Name Comes Through in Cage Triumph

Eric Dunn has stood in the background most of the year at El Camino College. With the scoring of sophomore forwards Kirkland Howling and Charles White there haven’t been many show times for the 6-6 sophomore post from St. Bernard High School.

That changed Wednesday night at El Camino. With White in foul trouble most of the night, Dunn was the take-charge guy, rallying the Warriors from a seven-point half-time deficit to a 60-53 victory over Saddleback in the second round of the California community college basketball playoffs.

“Eric Dunn was the difference,” said Warrior Coach Paul Landreaux, who needs another win Friday night against visiting Hancock College to advance to the state tournament next week at Santa Clara.

Dunn scored his nine points in the second half and each was a key in bringing the sluggish El Camino offense back from a dismal 11-of-26 shooting performance in the first 20 minutes. His lay-in with 15 minutes to go gave the Warriors a 40-37 lead, one that they built to 47-39 five minutes later.

“We worked 10 days on this,” said Landreaux. (El Camino received a bye in the opening round of the playoffs and had not played since Feb. 19.) “We knew they would sit back in that zone and had to attack it.”

Landreaux said Dunn was confused in the first half about how to attack the zone because his teammates were telling him different things. But in the final 20 minutes “we told them not to say a thing to him,” Landreaux said.

El Camino (29-3) doesn’t figure to get an easy game from here on out. Landreaux has criticized the seeding committee: “I’m supposed to be the No. 1 seed? This doesn’t make any sense. Look at this game. It looks like the seeding committee is trying to get us knocked out.”

He has a point. El Camino’s bracket included three of the state’s top nine-rated teams.

The Warriors came out firing Wednesday night. Led by White, who scored six early points, the Warriors opened a 13-2 lead.

But the Saddleback zone shut down the Warrior inside game. Led by sophomore forward Vincent Smalls, the Gauchos outscored El Camino, 24-5, and took a 33-26 half-time lead.

El Camino responded in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Dunn got the first of three key baskets at the 17:30 mark to pull within two points, 37-35. Seven minutes later the Warriors had concluded a 21-6 scoring outburst.