Giant-Killer El Camino Upsets Second-Seeded Cypress, 80-71
El Camino College pulled off its third consecutive upset in the Southern California Regional basketball playoffs, this time a 80-71 victory over second-seeded Cypress.
El Camino (23-10), the 23rd-seeded team, advanced to the quarterfinals Thursday at UC Irvine. Cypress, the Orange Empire Conference champions, ended at 28-4.
El Camino had defeated No. 10 Santa Monica and then No. 7 Los Angeles City earlier in the playoffs.
“We had no poise,” Cypress Coach Don Johnson said. “We didn’t generate anything consistently offensive-wise, and we compounded our problem by playing ridiculous defense. It’s a sad way to go out.”
Four El Camino players scored in double figures. Sophomore guard Larry Lockley led the pack with 23 points, and Jamal Ross and Steve Leary each added 14. Freshman Michael Houck had 12.
Cypress was led by sophomore center Andre Lamoureux who had 23 points. Eric Pauley added 19. Grayle Humphrey stole the ball from El Camino’s Allen Caveness and passed it to Mike Renaud who hit a 17-footer that brought the Chargers to within five points, 53-58, with 5:31 left.
A pair of Lamoureux free throws brought the Chargers to within four with 5:09 left, but that’s as close as they got.
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
