Brea-Olinda Tournament : Compton’s Defense Holds Off El Modena

An aggressive defense helped Compton High School beat El Modena, 90-67, in a quarterfinal game of the Brea-Olinda tournament Wednesday.

Compton jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start the game and never gave up the lead in advancing to the semifinals tonight against Brea at 8:30.

Four players, led by Terrance Adams’ 20 points, scored in double figures for Compton. Calvin Curry added 18, Alonzo Lemmons 13 and Joseph Gober 11.

But the key was Compton’s defense. Compton (10-1) kept El Modena (9-3) off balance with a trapping, full-court pressure defense.

Compton held El Modena’s high-scoring center, Robbie Pietsch, to 14 points. Adams and Darnell Patterson controlled the key. They had Pietsch covered tightly every time he got the ball, which wasn’t too often thanks to their overplaying. Pietsch came into the game averaging 25 points a game.

John Darrow, the Vanguards’ other big threat inside, also had his troubles. He had 11 points, but Adams and Patterson made him work for them.

“We knew we wanted to stop 44 and 40 (Pietsch and Darrow, respectively),” said Lewis Nelson, Compton coach. “The key was we wanted to keep them down and make the other guys beat us.”

El Modena kept it close until late in the second quarter when Compton extended a 42-37 lead to 51-39. El Modena lost any chance of a comeback when it scored just 5 points in the third quarter and trailed, 65-44, to start the fourth.

In other tournament games:

Brea-Olinda 76, Torrance 59--Brea broke the game open by outscoring Torrance, 21-7, in the third quarter. Matt Chamberlain had 19 points and Keith Walker added 16 for the Wildcats (8-5). Toby Wollard led Torrance (4-4) with 20 points.

St. Paul 97, El Dorado 80--Jason Hart made 6 shots from 3-point range and finished with 25 points to lead St. Paul (10-4) to a quarterfinal victory. Matt Luke scored 24 points and Mike Renaud added 23 for El Dorado (6-4).

Whittier Christian 69, La Habra 49--Paul McKinley scored 19 of his 31 points in the second half to lead Whittier Christian (6-2) in the quarterfinals.