Artesia Ends Glendora’s Streak

After winning its first 33 games, the Glendora High boys’ basketball team found out Saturday night that sometimes not all dream seasons have happy endings.

Behind Charles O’Bannon’s 23 points and Avondre Jones’ 18, Artesia held off a fourth-quarter rally and handed Glendora its first loss of the season, 59-54, in the State Southern Regional Division II final at the Sports Arena.

Artesia’s victory avenged a loss to Glendora in last week’s Southern Section II-AA Division championship game and also earned the Pioneers a berth against San Ramon in Friday’s State Division II final in Sacramento.

“We felt that as long as we played together as a team, we would win,” said O’Bannon, a 6-foot-5 junior, who also had five steals and three blocked shots.

The main difference this time was Artesia’s ability to apply defensive pressure early in the game and hold Glendora’s Cameron Murray to 19 points. Murray made only six of 22 shots from the field.

“We wanted to play them a little different on defense by playing a 2-3 zone and trapping more,” Artesia Coach Wayne Merino said. “That caused them a lot of problems in the first half.”

Murray, who scored 31 against the Pioneers last week, had only 10 points after three quarters. But his outside shooting helped Glendora erase Artesia’s 13-point lead in the fourth quarter.

Murray’s three three-point baskets helped cut Artesia’s lead to 48-47 with 3:05 remaining.

Then, Artesia responded with three defensive plays that led to dunks by O’Bannon and Jones, who also scored on a layup, and the Pioneers went ahead by 54-47 with 75 seconds remaining.

But Glendora’s comeback fell short when Murray missed two late three-point attempts and Artesia’s Shawn Caracoza made two free throws for the victory.

“We were in a tough position from the start because they were bigger and more athletic than us in nearly every position,” Glendora Coach Mike LeDuc said.

“We knew we couldn’t make mistakes, and then we came out and didn’t play aggressively in the first half.”

Artesia, which led by only 16-15 after the first quarter, outscored the Tartans by 20-6 during the second quarter. The key for the Pioneers was their ability to stay out of foul trouble.

“The difference for us defensively was that we were able to stay on the floor and play,” O’Bannon said. “Then once they started to come back, we just had to keep our composure and keep moving the ball around.”

Artesia, which lost in the Southern Regional finals last year to Tustin, will make its second appearance in the State Division II championship game. Behind Ed O’Bannon, brother of Charles who plays for UCLA, the Pioneers won the State title in 1990.

Artesia showed Glendora early that it was not going to have an easy time getting its offense on track. Murray scored only seven points during the first quarter and was held scoreless in the second.

Artesia’s full-court trapping defense did not allow Glendora to get any easy shots, as O’Bannon and Shawn Caracoza combined for 16 first-half points.

Jones led Artesia during the first half with 12 points.