Warriors Beat Riverside, Go to State Finals

Few expected El Camino to reach the junior college basketball state finals after Paul Landreaux left to become an assistant at UCLA.

But first-year Coach Ron McClurkin said from the start of this season that his team would reach the finals, and Saturday night his promise was fulfilled: The Warriors earned the trip to Santa Clara for the March 9 state tournament with an 81-65 win over No. 6-seeded Riverside.

McClurkin has also said all season that if his team limits its opponents to 60 points a game, it should have no problem winning.

That almost came true as well Saturday for the No. 3-seeded Warrriors (23-8) in their Southern California Regional bracket final at El Camino.

Still, it took more than El Camino’s usual strong defense to win this one. The Warriors were aided greatly by their top gun, sophomore guard Kevin Mixon, who had a game-high 39 points, including 9 for 9 from three-point range.

“This was a big game,” Mixon said, “and I knew I had to come through. I knew I had to take my shots, and I did.”

Riverside (27-9) was up 35-34 three minutes into the second half, but the Warriors went on a 12-point run that included three Mixon three-pointers. That put El Camino up 46-35 with 12:48 left to play.

The Tigers rallied and trailed by only five, 58-53, with 4:25 left on the clock, but El Camino answered once again with three consecutive Mixon three-pointers.

“We’re going to Santa Clara,” a smiling McClurkin said after the game. “I think we played the same game we played against Glendale, except that we shot the ball. Oh, and we got it in.”

El Camino, which has had few good first-half performances this season, came out roaring against Riverside.

The Warriors hustled from the start and hit the boards hard. The led for most of the half--unlike Wednesday’s game against Glendale, when they had gone through an early shooting slump. The only time Riverside held the edge in the first half Saturday was at 12-11 with 12:02 remaining.

El Camino was up by nine with eight minutes left in the half, but even its tight defense and good shooting couldn’t prevent the Tigers from shaving the lead to one at the break. Riverside’s Michael Stewart hit a jumper at the buzzer to make the score 29-28 in favor of El Camino.

Sophomore Zlatco Josic had 13 points for El Camino, and guard Van Myers had nine. Riverside was led by Bobby Joyce’s 18 points.