EL DORADO BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT : Saugus Canyon Drills Whittier Christian

Jermaine Nixon’s six three-point baskets in the first quarter led Saugus Canyon over Whittier Christian, 82-57, for the championship of the El Dorado basketball tournament Saturday at El Dorado High School.

In other games, El Dorado defeated Anaheim Canyon, 69-60, for third place, Downey beat Pomona, 82-75, for fifth place, and Long Beach Jordan defeated Sunny Hills, 84-66, for seventh place.

Saugus Canyon broke to an early 26-12 lead and never looked back. Nixon, named to the all-tournament team, finished the game with seven three-pointers and 31 points.

“I didn’t have my kids mentally ready to stop Nixon,” Whittier Christian coach Bob Brown said. “I had talked to them before the game to key on him, but they didn’t do it, which gave Nixon and Saugus Canyon the momentum.”

Brown, whose Heralds are now 3-3, said his team couldn’t match Saugus Canyon’s first-half hunger.

“We did some good things defensively, but we failed offensively,” Brown said. “We weren’t real confident; we seemed to rush ourselves.”

Ruben Oronoz, also named to the all-tournament team, led Whittier Christian with 15 points. Teammate Joe Konstantarakis finished the game with 14.

Lance Moore, named the tournament’s most valuable player, scored 19 points for Saugus Canyon.

El Dorado 69, Canyon 60--El Dorado made 10 of 15 free throws in the fourth quarter to win thrid place.

Geoff Kordik’s 10 points in the first quarter gave Canyon an 18-12 lead. Three-point baskets by El Dorado’s Matt Raya and Mike Bradach narrowed the Canyon lead to four, 28-24, at halftime.

El Dorado (6-2) turned the game around in the third quarter by picking up its defense and converting steals into points.

“We had much better team play, which is what we have to do to play well,” El Dorado Coach Wayne Carlson said.

Jerome Facione scored 24 points for El Dorado and was named to the all-tournament team.

Long Beach Jordan 84, Sunny Hills 66--Four of Dominic Carnesi’s five field goals were three-pointers, but they weren’t enough in Sunny Hills’ bid for seventh place. Jordan walked away with the game in the first quarter, outscoring Sunny Hills, 22-8. Carnesi finished the game with 21 points.