THE PREPS : Trabuco Hills Edges El Toro, 62-60 : Swanwick, Hot-Shooting Guards Avenge Earlier Defeat

Center Rick Swanwick provided the scoring inside and a pair of guards made six 3-point shots as Trabuco Hills High School defeated El Toro, 62-60, Thursday in a nonleague boys’ basketball game in UC Irvine’s Bren Center.

Swanwick scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds as Trabuco Hills avenged a 79-65 loss to El Toro 4 days earlier in the third-place game of the Newport-Mesa tournament.

Trabuco Hills guards Chad Poulos (3 for 4) and Randy Kriech (3 of 5) made the shots from beyond the 19-foot 9-inch line. Poulos scored 16 points, and Kriech finished with 11 points.

“That was the biggest win I’ve ever had in my 2 years at Trabuco Hills,” said Coach Rainer Wulf. “We played with great poise down the stretch and beat a very good team.

“We made a couple of adjustments this time when they started doubling up on Swanwick. When Rick made the inside shots, that opened up the outside for our shooters.”

Swanwick, 6 feet 10 inches, made 11 of 19 shots, most of them coming on a variety of moves from within 8 feet of the basket.

“Rick has improved more than any player I’ve ever been around,” Wulf said. “He’s lost 60 pounds since last season and he’s showing that he’s a major college player.”

Guard Greg Reynolds led El Toro with 19 points, but his off-balance baseline shot with 3 seconds remaining hit the side of the backboard as the buzzer sounded.

Khari Johnson, El Toro’s top player who has signed with UC Irvine, was hardly a factor. Johnson had 15 rebounds, but he scored only 10 points and rarely touched the ball in the second half.

Both teams have 3-2 records heading into tournament play next week. El Toro will travel to Carson City; Trabuco Hills goes to Hawaii.

In the opening game of the doubleheader:

Mater Dei 84, Los Alamitos 57--Guard Dylan Rigdon scored 15 of his game-high 26 points in the third quarter as Mater Dei opened a 64-42 lead and breezed to its fifth victory in six games.

Rigdon made 8 of 14 shots and had a pair of 3-point shots. Teammate Andy Karich added 16 points and 9 rebounds.

Los Alamitos (0-4) fell behind, 16-6, in the first quarter but managed to stay close through most of the first half until Rigdon took over. Los Alamitos point guard Rick Potts, a sophomore, scored 12 points and junior forward Mike Wilson added 13.

“I’ve told our boosters not to look at the box scores until January,” said Steve Brooks, Los Alamitos coach. “We’re awfully young and play such a tough preseason schedule, it’s likely we’ll have a losing record going into league play.”