SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA REGIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYOFFS : BOYS’ ROUNDUP : El Camino Gets a Winning Tip From Its Coach

With two seconds left, their team down two points and the length of the court to go Tuesday night, El Camino’s Travis Gilley and Dee Boyer figured this was no time for one of their coach’s crazy plays.

But Gilley, Boyer and the rest of 2,000 people jammed inside El Camino’s gym soon became believers in Coach Ray Johnson.

El Camino’s Shaun Scurry heaved the ball to heavily guarded Boyer at the top of the key, and Boyer tipped it to Gilley for an 18-foot jumper that barely hit the back of the rim and fell in to make it 73-73.

From there, there was no stopping El Camino. The Wildcats blew away from Compton in the three-minute overtime, scoring 19 points to win the quarterfinal round of the Division II Southern California Regionals, 92-78.

“We figured our miracle happened, now let’s go and win the game,” Gilley said.

In addition to making the game-tying shot, Gilley scored seven of El Camino’s 19 points in overtime to finish with a team-high 29.

El Camino (23-6), seeded fourth, will now play at No. 1 Artesia Thursday night.

The play that enabled El Camino to live another day was an old favorite of Johnson’s.

“I used that play when I was at Oceanside,” he said. “We won a game with it there too. It’s a sucker play, everybody rushes to the ball. It’s a natural reaction.”

Boyer, who finished with eight points, 14 rebounds and six blocks, said, “It didn’t seem like two seconds was enough, but then I realized the clock doesn’t start until the ball hits my hands.”

El Camino led at the end of the first quarter, 19-15, but trailed at halftime, 37-31, and throughout most of the game.

In fact, the Wildcats were down, 65-58, with 5:30 left in regulation before they scored six consecutive points to close to 65-64 with 3:22 left.

Compton (22-8) took a 71-67 lead with 1:50 left, but Scurry hit a 15-foot jumper and Gilley sank two free throws to tie it a 71 with 1:05 remaining.

Boyer had an opportunity to put El Camino ahead with 12 seconds left, but he missed two free throws. Compton’s Derick Florence then came down and hit a 16-foot jumper to give his team a 73-71 lead with two seconds left.

“We wanted the last shot,” Compton Coach Curtis Knight said. “We didn’t want to shoot so early.”