Prep Basketball : Empire League Roundup : El Dorado Wins 14th Game in Row

There was plenty of incentive for El Dorado and Cypress high schools Friday night in their Empire League boys’ basketball finale.

El Dorado, which already had clinched the league title, had an opportunity to close out the regular season with a 14-game winning streak and enter the Southern Section 3-A playoffs with a perfect league record.

Cypress had a chance to avenge a defeat earlier in the season to El Dorado before heading into the 4-A playoffs.

The Golden Hawks remained perfect in league play, 60-57.

“Obviously we’re playing well,” El Dorado Coach Wayne Carlson. El Dorado is 20-4 overall, 10-0 in league play, the first El Dorado team to go undefeated in league competition.

Cypress (11-13, 6-4) and Los Alamitos tied for second in league play.

It looked as if the Centurions might claim second place outright for nearly three quarters. They led, 19-18, lead on a Mark Johnson basket with 47 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Johnson led Cypress with 20 points.

Cypress built an eight-point lead, 45-37, in the third.

The Centurions held leading scorer and rebounder Matt Luke and starting guard Mike Renaud to three points each in the second and third quarters.

But they couldn’t contain either in the final quarter, when the Hawks outscored Cypress, 16-7, to escape with a victory.

Renaud led the Hawks’ balanced scoring attack with 15 points, including nine in the final 8 minutes. Luke finished with 12 points, 21 rebounds and four steals.

The Hawks trailed, 50-46, going into the final quarter, but Luke sank two free throws and tipped in a Jerome Facione miss with 7:17 left to get the Hawks to within a basket at 50-48.

In the final 4 minutes Luke had three steals, the second of which led to a Renaud basket at 2:57 that tied the score at 54-54. Another Luke steal with 1:36 remaining led to two Renaud free throws and El Dorado’s first lead of the game since the first quarter at 56-54.

One of Luke’s biggest rebounds came after a miss with 50 seconds to go by Jared Rice, who had 19 points. Mike Bradach was fouled and sank both shots for a 58-54 lead.

Katella 64, Los Alamitos 56--Brian Yourstone scored 25 points to lead the Knights (7-15, 3-7) at Katella. The Knights outscored the Griffins, 19-11, in the fourth quarter to pull away for the victory. Mike Wilson scored 17 points and Robert Conlisk 14 for Los Alamitos (11-14, 6-4), which enters the 5-A playoffs.