El Camino Holds Off Pasadena’s Second-Half Surge to Win, 85-74

El Camino lost its South Coast Conference basketball opener to a mediocre team on Saturday, but last night the Warriors got revenge with an 85-74 victory over Pasadena at the Lancer gym.

For one half the seventh-ranked Warriors (15-5, 1-1) took it out on the Lancers, who made an incredible second-half effort to save their SCC opener.

Pasadena (10-11, 0-1) found it difficult to keep up with El Camino’s intense defense and fast-paced offense. The Warriors scored 12 unanswered points early in the game, which put them ahead 18-5 with 13:35 left in the half.

Less than a minute later El Camino went on a nine-point run capped by freshman Michael Houck’s three-point play that gave the Warriors a 27-11 lead.

Pasadena’s virtually non-existant shooting and an array of turnovers in the first half assisted El Camino which held a 41-28 halftime edge.

The Warriors kept the streak going for the first part of the second half. With 14:34 left to play El Camino had a comfortable 21-point lead.

Perhaps El Camino got too comfortable because Pasadena shaved the lead to six after David Phillips’ three-point shot with 1:01 remaining in the game.

El Camino will travel to Cerritos for Saturday’s SCC game at 7:30 p.m.