Empire League Basketball : El Dorado Turns It On in Rout of Esperanza

El Dorado High School effectively used its transition offense to defeat Esperanza, 79-49, Friday night in the Empire League boys’ basketball opener for both schools at Esperanza.

The victory was the fifth in a row for El Dorado (11-4, 1-0) and followed a 29-point victory over Valencia this week.

El Dorado set the pace early. Senior guard Travis Dowdell gave the Hawks a 7-2 lead on a layup after Mike Bradach’s steal and outlet pass. Bradach had 4 steals in the game, and 6-foot 5-inch forward Matt Luke added 4 to spark El Dorado’s fast break.

“We’re not very big, so we like to run a lot,” El Dorado Coach Wayne Carlson said. “Our trademark is the fast break, and we key that with defense and steals.”

El Dorado harassed the Aztecs with a scrappy man-to-man defense. Most of the Hawks’ points came on layups or bank shots inside the paint.

El Dorado, which led, 39-26, at halftime missed a handful of layups to start the third quarter and didn’t score until Bradach’s short jumper with 2:30 remaining in the period. But Esperanza was unable to score in that stretch either.

“Esperanza could have gotten back into the game at that point,” Carlson said. “Fortunately, our defense bailed us out.”

The Hawks got most of their points from the backcourt. Bradach led the Hawks with 17 points, and Dowdell added 16.

El Dorado’s Mike Renaud scored 13 points, including a key 3-pointer in the second quarter, and had 5 assists. Luke scored 11 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

Esperanza (6-9, 0-1) is a young team. Three sophomores (guards Bret Evans and Matt Thimgan and forward Joe Foss) started.

In addition, Matt Werner, a 6-5 post player who missed the first 10 games of the season with mononucleosis, has yet to regain his stamina. Werner, a third-year starter and a second-team Empire League selection last year, finished with 6 points.

Foss, the Aztecs’ leading scorer with a 15.5 average, worked inside for 11 points. Greg Pope also scored 11.

Cypress 58, Los Alamitos 48--Mark Johnson scored 19 points and had 11 rebounds to lead Cypress to its first league victory over Los Alamitos in 8 seasons. Gabe Trinidade scored 14 for Cypress, which trailed, 28-23, at the half but rallied to take a 39-34 lead after three quarters.

Katella 52, Loara 48--Aaron McGinnis scored a game-high 17 points to lead Katella (11-4, 1-0) at home. Brian Yourstone added 15 for Katella. The score was tied, 27-27, at the half and Katella led 40-39, after three quarters. Katella never trailed in the fourth quarter. Joe Guadia scored 16 and Tes Whitlock 15 for Loara.