El Camino Survives Late Scare in State Basketball Tourney

They say the worst part about playing in the California community college state basketball championships is getting here through the regional rounds.

Based on that idea, El Camino College thought it could cakewalk through it’s opening-round game Thursday night after being bracketed in last week’s regional with two of the state’s best teams, Saddleback and Hancock.

After both were disposed of, little West Valley College of Los Gatos didn’t seem to pose much of a threat. After all, El Camino was the top-seeded team from the south and West Valley was a third-place club in a conference that has only five teams.

But West Valley Coach Bob Burton had other ideas and before falling, 79-66, to El Camino, the Vikings served the Warriors a warning: Don’t take anything for granted in the final eight.

“No question about it, we were out-hustled,” said El Camino Coach Paul Landreaux. El Camino spent most of the game without a sure offense. It had difficulty shooting over the Vikings’ 2-3 zone in the first half (the team was 3 for 8 from three-point range). Landreaux sat through a lot of nervous moments.

But why should the state playoffs be different from the rest of the season? El Camino’s offense has sputtered throughout the year. But when it counts, the Warriors come through.

“Our kids have an attitude that they’re going to win,” Landreaux said.

Then the coach, who has guided a team with 31 wins against only three losses, paused: “But now that we are here, I’m not so sure.”

Burton called El Camino the best team in the tournament.

Much of their success depends on forward Charles White, who said he would be here this weekend “to play.” White lived up to his promise Thursday, scoring 20 points on an assortment of monster dunks, tallying 12 rebounds and blocking five shots.

“I wasn’t out to lunch tonight,” he said. He was refering to a comment earlier in the week by Landreaux about White’s up-and-down performances.

White had a supporting cast, mainly silent center David Lee and the team’s leading scorer, Kirkland Howling. Lee had 25 points, many of them key lay-ins in the second half, once El Camino figured out how to get inside the stiff 2-3 Viking zone.

Both teams suffered through a dismal first half of shooting. El Camino hit just 11 of 35 field goal attempts in the first 20 minutes. West Valley shot 9 of 25.

El Camino led by six points midway through the second half, then West Valley outscored the Warriors, 11-4, to take a 47-46 lead with 9:13 left.

El Camino broke a 50-50 tie a minute later with a three-point basket and held on. But each time the Warriors looked like they were going to open the game up, West Valley clawed back.

A three-point basket by Alie Jackson with 1:54 left cut the Warrior lead to 67-61.

El Camino survived with excellent free throw shooting in the bonus situation. In the final 3:43, the Warriors connected on 9 of 10 free throws in the bonus and another pair on an intentional foul.

El Camino will meet the winner of the late game between Santa Monica and Merced.