EL DORADO BOYS’ BASKETBALL : El Dorado Loses Battle of Offenses

Put two small, quick basketball teams on the same court and you usually expect those two teams to end up putting on a track meet from one end of the court to the other.

In a semifinal game of the El Dorado basketball tournament Friday night, Saugus Canyon’s transition offense was good enough to outscore El Dorado, 81-71.

But for most of the first three quarters, Canyon (4-2) had trouble getting its fast break in gear. Canyon didn’t score a field goal until 3:13 was left in the first quarter, and at the start of the second half, El Dorado (5-2) held a 38-32 lead.

That’s when Lance Moore, Canyon’s quick point guard, injected some life into his team’s offense.

Moore converted a couple of third-quarter steals into assists and easy breakaway layups for teammates Jermaine Nixon and Joe Hanez.

Moore started an 11-point run for Canyon that erased a 42-38 El Dorado lead. Moore punctuated the third quarter by stepping back behind the three-point line and sinking a jump shot at the buzzer to stretch Canyon’s lead to 56-50.

El Dorado trimmed the lead to 75-71 in the fourth quarter on a three-point basket by Matt Raya and a three-point play by post player Jerome Facione.

Then Moore went to work again. Fouled with 1:02 left, Moore went to the line for a one-and-one and sank both shots.

Moore was a perfect eight for eight from the free-throw line. Moore helped to offset the foul-shooting troubles of Nixon, who missed seven of 10 shots from the line in the first half.

Moore scored a game-high 27 points, 17 of which came in the second half. Facione led El Dorado with 24 points, 18 in the second half. Swingman Mike Bradach contributed 12 points for El Dorado and his backcourt mate Gary Smith added 11.

Canyon will meet Whittier Christian in the final tonight at 7:30. El Dorado will meet Anaheim Canyon in the third-place game at 4:30 p.m.

In a consolation semifinal:

Downey 70, Sunny Hills 57--Guard Keith Overby scored 17 points and Dominic Carnesi added 14 for Sunny Hills, but Eddie Yoon, Downey’s 5-foot-8 guard, led all scorers with 23 points, including a pair of three-point baskets. Guard Mark Morales added 16 points and center Darius Rutledge had 10 for Downey.